eBook Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company

35
eBook Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company Practical advice to bring your DE&I recruiting efforts to life

Transcript of eBook Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company

Page 1: eBook Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company

eBook

Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your companyPractical advice to bring your DEampI recruiting efforts to life

Contents

Introduction 03

Part 1 Getting started

Take a self-assessment of your current state 05

Part 2 For hiring managers and interviewers

Strengthening interviewing skills and questions 07

Part 3 For recruiting teams

Recognizing and addressing biased behaviors in hiring 16

Part 4 For business leaders

Prioritizing DEampI 22

Part 5 For everyone

Creating an inclusive candidate experience to build stronger more diverse teams 29

Conclusion 32

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 2

IntroductionThe role of diversity equity and inclusion (DEampI) in talent strategy has

never been more important The way your team attracts recruits and

hires a diverse candidate set can boost your competitive advantage

and solidify your identity as a great employer Candidates are now

taking a closer look at companiesrsquo composition and commitment to

DEampI when evaluating offers ndash 86 of job seekers say a companyrsquos

diversity is an important factor

But who is responsible for building and maintaining inclusive

hiring practices Too often it is yet another responsibility added to

recruitersrsquo already lengthy to-do lists Like any strategic initiative

prioritizing DEampI should be a shared responsibility and not left solely

to a single team to drive Thatrsquos why wersquore sharing these inclusive

hiring strategies that support everyone at your company including

your recruiters hiring managers and business leaders Everyone from

your executives to the people on your hiring panels have a part to play

and a responsibility to be as inclusive as possible

33

While there are no shortcuts on the journey of embracing and

operationalizing DEampI we hope these strategies will be your compass

and companion as you catalyze your work in this area Recruiting

interviewing and selecting talent with an equity and inclusion lens will

distinguish your company as an employer of choice for talent that will

come from increasingly diverse backgrounds in the years to come

Our goal with this eBook is to provide actionable advice and solid

strategies for people in every department and role We invite you to

start with Part 1 for some self-reflection to see where you are today

Next you can choose the sections that are most relevant to you and

dive in Herersquos a quick overview

bull For hiring managers and interviewers Strengthening

interviewing skills and questions

bull For recruiting teams Recognizing and addressing biased

behaviors in hiring

bull For business leaders Prioritizing DEampI

bull For everyone Creating an inclusive candidate experience to

build stronger more diverse teams

Of course feel free to read the entire eBook if yoursquod like to get

the big picture of promoting DEampI throughout your organization

Letrsquos get started

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 4

Part 1 Getting started

Take a self-assessment of your current stateBefore jumping into specific tactics we encourage you to work through

this self-assessment

Letrsquos start with a hypothetical scenario focused on inclusion Imagine

you are the hiring manager tasked with hiring a head of diversity for

your company A finalist candidate asks you the following questions

How would you answer And how would you rate yourself and your

process on based on those answers

Remember the point of this exercise is to be honest with yourself and

accurately describe where you are today

Questions Scorecard rating

Do you actively evaluate your hiring process

to compare your inbound (direct applicants)

and outbound (sourced passive candidates

referrals) talent

Give a 1ndash2 sentence definition of ldquoculture

fitrdquo and examples of how it shows up at your

company If your company indexes hiring

decisions against this definition do you

educate hiring teams (with examples) so that

everyone is aligned on what a ldquomisfitrdquo is

If so how often If not why not

How well does the team assess the predictive

validity (how candidates perform once they

join your company) of your interview process

How does your team incorporate data or

feedback from people managers to test how

interview methods (questions assessments)

correlate with performance and how do you

use that data to refine the process

Scorecard ratings key

Strong no

No

Mixed

Yes

Strong yes

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 5

How much of a premium do recruiters at your

company place on recruiting talent from your

industry How might the lack of diversity in

your industry reduce the chances of building a

diverse pool

What does interviewer education look like at

your company right now Which components

are included What criteria must employees

meet to become eligible to interview

How does your company define and measure

interviewer effectiveness If an employee is

not meeting expectations what remediation

or learning opportunities does your team offer

to improve their skills in hiring

Which hiring source (referrals your career

page LinkedIn etc) has the highest yield

conversion of candidates you hire With

that source how does your recruiting team

integrate targeted marketing to communities

that are underrepresented in your company

How does your recruiting team engage with

employee attritionfirst-year churn data How

have you used it to refine your hiring (and

onboarding if your team owns it) process Do

you segment that data by demographic (race

gender etc) and if so how does that impact

your recruitment marketing or sourcing

strategy

How does your recruiting team determine

articulate and differentiate minimum and

preferred qualifications in your job posts

What did you learn from going through this exercise Does anything

jump out as a particular strength or area for improvement Use your

answers to launch conversations with others in your company who are

committed to DEampI

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 6

Part 2 For hiring managers and interviewers

Strengthening interviewing skills and questions Hiring managers play a critical role in recruiting Not only do you make

the final call about who gets hired but you also shape the approach to

interviewing and guide your team through the evaluation process

Have you ever received unclear or insufficient feedback from

interviewers Or feedback that wasnrsquot aligned with your expectations of

the interview focus

Using consistent questions and evaluation criteria significantly reduces

the likelihood that your interviewers will rely on snap decisions when

interviewing candidates This structured approach to hiring helps you

make more informed decisions about your next hire

We suggest the following approach

Step 1 Select the focus attributes yoursquod like

interviewers to assess

Step 2 Write custom questions that test for each

focus attribute

Step 3 Create rubrics for your interviewers to measure

the quality of a candidatersquos responses relative to

the scorecard

Step 4 Train your interviewers on taking notes that are

rooted in evidence not inference

Now letrsquos go through each of these steps with some examples to get

you started

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 7

Select the focus attributes yoursquod like interviewers to assess

What are the skills and qualities a candidate will need to be successful

in this role If itrsquos an existing role you may already have a clear idea If

itrsquos a new role you might need to start with your best guess based on

the responsibilities the role entails and refine it over time In either case

spend some time talking to members of your team your recruiting

partner and other company leaders to pinpoint the required skills

As a rule of thumb we recommend coming up with three to six

attributes per specific category such as cross-functional collaboration

people management and technical ability The SMART framework

(Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-based) is useful for

keeping interviewers on track

Step 2

Write custom questions that test for each focus attribute

Once you have your list of focus attributes yoursquoll want to write

questions that help interviewers test for those qualities

Pro tip

Instead of opting for

generic attributes

like ldquoorganizational

skillsrdquo consider more

targeted descriptions

like ldquomanaging multiple

prioritiesrdquo that clarify the

specific competency a

candidate would need to

be effective in the role

3Ps of interviewing We created the Purpose Process and People model to help categorize

interview questions into three tiers

Purpose questions help you identify what motivates a candidate

and assess alignment with your team andor companyrsquos values

Process questions help you measure how a candidate solves

problems thinks creatively and manages projects and deadlines

People questions help you determine how a candidate

would interact with others in your organization and how they

demonstrate emotional intelligence in the workplace

Step 1

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 8

How do you translate focus attributes into interview questions Look

for ways to dig in and get detailed information based on specific

situations

Here are a few examples to get the ball rolling We chose one attribute

for each of the 3 Ps learning and continuous improvement for Purpose

managing multiple priorities for Process and collaboration for People

with a set of sample questions for each attribute

Purpose ndash Identifying what motivates a candidate

Attribute Sample questions

Learning and continuous improvement

Name three things yoursquove done in the last few years to grow in your career

Describe a time when you proactively sought out feedback to improve your productivity or effectiveness in a role

bull What led you to seek that feedback

bull How did you determine the appropriate individuals to ask

bull How did you apply the feedback you received

bull How do you keep those learnings in mind in how you work today

Discuss an example of feedback you received that you did not agree with

bull What was the feedback

bull Why did you disagree

bull How did you communicate with the person that shared it with you

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 9

Process ndash Measuring how a candidate gets things done

Attribute Sample questions

Managing multiple priorities

Describe a time when you needed to delegate a project or task to someone on your team who you did not trust in order to prioritize something else on your list

bull What was the deliverable and why did you need to delegate it

bull What made you skeptical about this personrsquos ability to execute

bull How did you navigate the tradeoff between delegating and completing it on your own

Give me an example of a time when you needed to manage up because your workload had become unreasonable

bull What circumstances led to this

bull How did you negotiate which deliverables needed to be prioritized or shared with someone else

bull Did you encounter any pushback If so how did you manage it

Tell me about a time when you were trying to meet a deadline but were interrupted and did not make the deadline

bull How did you respond

People ndash Determining how a candidate interacts with others

Attribute Sample questions

Collaboration Describe a situation where you and your manager (or another leader at your company) disagreed on the approach to take on a project or deliverable

bull How did you evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of both approaches How did you know yours was the better option

bull How did you communicate your position to your manager How did they respond bull What was the outcome

Tell me about a time when you worked on a project and a peer was not meeting expectations What actions did you take

bull How did you balance the tradeoff between holding the person accountable and completing the work yourself

Share an example of a time when your emotional intelligence helped you in collaborating with someone who had a completely different communication style

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 10

Step 3

Create rubrics for your interviewers to measure the quality of a candidatersquos responses relative to the scorecard

Now that you have your focus attributes and interview questions

ready itrsquos time to consider how yoursquod like interviewers to score their

responses

This is the rating system we use at Greenhouse ndash feel free to make

changes or use it as is

We recommend creating rubrics for interviewers so they know how to

assess responses for every question they ask during the interview

Strong no No Mixed Yes Strong yes

1111

Herersquos an example rubric for assessing responses to ldquoTell me about

a time when you were communicating with someone and they didnrsquot

understand you What did you dordquo

Strong no No Mixed Yes Strong yes

Provides an unclear

description of

the relationship

dynamiccontext and

struggles to outline

their summary of

the situation to the

interviewer

Offers an indistinct

summary of the

intended message and

does not acknowledge

any unique relationship

dynamicsadded

context that may

have contributed to

the communication

breakdown

Does not take

accountability for

their role in the

communication

breakdown (for

example ldquoI donrsquot

see why they didnrsquot

understandrdquo) and has

not demonstrated how

they learned from this

situation for future

conversations with the

person or others in the

workplace

Offers a vague

depiction of the

situation (the message

they were looking to

convey the relationship

with the other person

and where the

miscommunication

occurred)

Provides a loose

outline of the steps

taken to identify a

plan to remedy the

communication

breakdown OR a

cursory summary of

what they learned from

the experience

Demonstrates empathy

for the other person

but does not leverage

it in articulating

their strategy

for revising their

approach for follow-up

conversations

Clearly defines the

intended vision of

the message for the

other person and

discusses wherehow

the message was lost in

translation

Acknowledges any

unique or relevant

relationship dynamics

that might have

contributed to the

message not being

clearly interpreted

Demonstrates empathy

in identifying the source

of the communication

breakdown and holds

self accountable

for identifying an

alternative way to

communicate with the

person

Clarifies any

subsequent steps

in preserving and

or growing the

relationship with

the person and

added measures

taken in adjusting

communication

(delivery style

approach) for other

conversations

Clearly defines the

intended vision of

the message for the

other person and

discusses wherehow

the message was lost in

translation

Acknowledges any

unique or relevant

relationship dynamics

that might have

contributed to the

message not being

clearly interpreted

Demonstrates empathy

in identifying the source

of the communication

breakdown and holds

self accountable

for identifying an

alternative way to

communicate with the

person

Clarifies any

subsequent steps

in preserving and

or growing the

relationship with

the person and

added measures

taken in adjusting

communication

(delivery style

approach) for other

conversations

Considers the

experience a learning

opportunity to iterate

and situate their

communication style to

match the expectations

of the audience

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 12

Step 4

Train your interviewers on taking notes that are rooted in evidence not inference

Finally yoursquoll need to hold interviewers accountable for capturing

detailed objective notes from every interview

Itrsquos important to note that without coaching interviewers probably

wonrsquot know how to do this You can help them by providing detailed

examples of what yoursquore looking for

Here are some sample scorecard notes

Rating Notes

Strong yes Lucia discussed her experience in her current role as Director of People where she is currently

responsible for recruitinghiring (8 roles to be filled within the next 2 months in their DC Ohio and

Atlanta markets) coordinating logistics (flights lodging meals programming) for an upcoming

national new hire orientation (15 attendees) and planning for the company-wide (150 ppl)

offsite retreat For hiring she mentioned how she schedules phone screens at various intervals

throughout the day and commits to taking notes on the call and scheduling next-round interviews

with hiring managers Structures days around certain ldquowork blocksrdquo where she knows what needs

to get done and will communicate if things are either taking longer than expected or if there are

roadblocks and collaborates as needed to find solutions Mentioned that she is a huge fan of

automation (Google Calendarrsquos DNS blocks) and keeps a scrolling list of to-do items Shared that

strong relationships with hiring managers made things a lot easier with schedulingprocess and

that the orientation went off without a hitch Team retreat was a multi-month effort and the team

enjoyed the experience more than the previous year both programmatically and logistically

Yes Joseacute shared about working as a Program Manager with a youth-development nonprofit and how

they were tapped to work on special projects from the Chief Program Officer on top of navigating

a complex situation with their school partner and how theyrsquove been ldquogetting their feet wetrdquo by

working with the development team on an upcoming funding proposal Their answers lacked

some detail (didnrsquot provide a backstory about the relationship with the school partner ldquothings

have always been tense but Irsquove been trying to remain positiverdquo) but were overall solid in how

theyrsquod tried to use time-tracking software to set alarms for when it was time to pivot and focus on

a different task They did mention that the team was short-staffed and that was why they decided

to step up and take on more responsibility even though they knew it would require additional work

on their end and being more organized Talked about how they have regular syncs with the CPO

to offer updates on their progress Also set up a weekly 2-hour block to work onedit the funding

proposal as theyrsquore interested in ldquodeveloping musclerdquo in fundraising

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 13

Mixed I gave Janet a ldquomixedrdquo here because I wasnrsquot convinced that her approach toward balancing

multiple projects was actually impactful or effective despite her laying out all the different steps

she took We talked about her experience as a second-year teacher (at a brand-new school)

juggling making parent calls grading lesson planning and her responsibilities as a self-appointed

sponsor for the schoolrsquos LGBTQ+ student association She talked about how she was able to use a

calendar and alerts in her phone but when probed admitted to having dropped a lot of balls with

grading student assignments since she was more focused on lesson planning and being present

for the student group Admitted that she could have done a much better job with balancing her

schedule and being more realistic with her bandwidth but also shared that she got feedback

from her Assistant Principal that she may need to scale back with the student group Again shersquos

capable of being proactive with taking on a lot but I donrsquot think I have enough evidence to say yes

or no on her ability to manage it all effectively and course correct as needed

No Morris shared an example of a time when as an Account Manager he had to navigate renewal

conversations with three different customers but spent the majority of the time discussing how

he wasnrsquot able to secure two of the renewals after focusing too heavily on one customer I probed

to learn more about his approachtechnique and he said that ldquoeverything was urgent so I didnrsquot

really have an opportunity to prioritize as much as I could haverdquo I probed more and learned that he

hadnrsquot responded to key emails from his customers and had assumed that since theyrsquod renewed

in the previous year that they would do so again Did admit to learning from the experience but Irsquom

not convinced that this example showcased his ability to do so with ease

Strong no Damon struggled to give a clear response but from what I could glean he has had a difficult

relationship with several hiring managers (HMs) in his most recent role as a full-cycle recruiter and

would often drop balls (forgetting to add notes double scheduling phone screens and not turning

around job posts quickly enough to match manager expectations) He mentioned one scenario

where he had challenges working with one HM and blamed them for the issue When I probed I

learned that Damon had neglected to ask about the candidatersquos salary requirements placing the

HM in a tough situation where they had to communicate that the candidatersquos expectations were

20 higher than the budgeted amount Damon attributed the breakdown as an ldquooversightrdquo and

shared that James (the HM) was ldquonot very likeable according to other recruiters that worked with

him beforerdquo and that he ldquoknew it would be an issuerdquo working with him on this new req

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 14

Sharing examples like these will help your team know what yoursquore

looking for Review interviewersrsquo feedback regularly Ask probing

questions about any comments that are vague or excessively

inferential Encourage them to anchor their decisions in the key

takeaways of your interview rubric

While the steps outlined above might be a pretty significant shift from

the way your team has been approaching interviewing making these

changes to your interview process can help mitigate bias and open the

door to qualified candidates from a broader range of backgrounds

Remember that you donrsquot have to do this all on your own ndash your

recruiters are your partners throughout this process Be sure to seek

their advice and input on attributes interview questions decision-

making criteria and any other area where you need a little extra

support

Pro tip

Encourage interviewers

to structure their

conversations with brief

intros (the longer the

intro the greater the

odds that an interviewer

will base their decision

on likability rather than

merit) Explain to your

team that they are

evaluating candidates

based on what they

can contribute not

popularity

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 15

Part 3 For recruiting teams

Recognizing and addressing biased behaviors in hiringAs a recruiter yoursquore responsible for the tools and processes that

shape hiring in your organization And when your company commits

to inclusive hiring a hefty portion of the responsibility will also fall on

your plate

Promoting inclusion often begins by looking at your hiring process

and putting systems in place to mitigate bias When you limit the role

bias plays in decision-making you can open the door to candidates

from traditionally underrepresented groups

In this section wersquoll offer a broad overview of how to recognize and

address bias in hiring

Recognizing biased behaviors in hiring

How can recruiters help their organizations mitigate bias in the hiring

process You can start by understanding when and where bias is likely

to pop up Wersquove summarized some of the research and collected a few

resources to help you begin your exploration of this topic

As you read through the points on the next page do any problematic

aspects of your existing process surface If so make a note to dive

deeper into those topics Wersquoll share some ideas in the next few

sections to give you a jumping-off point

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 16

bull Jargon and superficial language in job posts can

discourage women from applying and perpetuate inequality

bull Over-indexing on referrals from a homogenous workforce

(typically with less-diverse networks) can close the door for

people of color and women

bull Measuring talent through academic or employer history (both

have low predictive validity on job performance) limits access

for candidates excluded from those networks

bull People of color and women are more likely to receive offers if

another finalist shares their identity

bull Low-diversity interview teams may signal larger issues for

candidates from underrepresented groups

bull Resumes with more ldquowhite-soundingrdquo names are more likely to

be advanced in the hiring process

bull Candidates are often evaluated on their perceived ease in

assimilating or fitting into the culture rather than their capacity

to perform in the role and add to the companyrsquos culture

bull Traditional unstructured interviews are highly vulnerable to

bias ndash without consistent criteria or rubrics poorly trained

interviewers make impulse-driven decisions when evaluating

candidates

bull Interview notes are often scant high-inference or based on

likability rather than objective with examples that validate

advancement or rejection

bull Gender pay gaps persist in part because women fear reprisal for

initiating salary negotiation (from other women and men) and

compensation disparities are even wider for women of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 17

Addressing biased behaviors

Bias is a mental algorithm that can be disrupted through conscious

behavior change Effective and inclusive hiring isnrsquot so much a skill as

it is a collection of habits that can enable more inclusive outcomes and

change company cultures

Here are some practical steps you can take and tools to try out based

on the observations you noted earlier Wersquove divided these tips by

pipeline stage (sourcing screening selecting and hiring)

Sourcing

bull Clarify the attributes yoursquore looking for (capabilities performance

objectives etc) during your kickoff meeting using a structured

hiring template

bull Consider partnering with text-augmenting software like Textio

TapRecruit or Gender Decoder to expose and change the words

that may disrupt diversity at the top of your funnel

bull Solicit referrals for underrepresented talent (with added financial

incentive if possible) as an important DEampI initiative that can

also lead to greater retention and lower reports of workplace

inequity

bull The recruiting platform Gem recommends using diversity salient

strategies like targeting talent from bootcamps or affinity-based

organizations like TransTech Social and the National Society of

Black Engineers

bull Audit your job posts to determine which requirements are

essential and which are extraneous remove jargon and focus on

producing (and disseminating) content that appeals to the widest

net possible

bull Use Boolean searches in LinkedIn to find overlooked talent

by searching for alumni of colleges with high diversity indices

or affinity-based organizations like fraternities sororities and

cultural interest groups

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 18

A simple structured hiring template

Want to add more structure

to your hiring process

Here are a few questions

and points to consider next

time you open a new role

Who are you trying to hire

bull Role name

bull Department

bull Who will this person report to

bull What business objectives are you trying to meet with this role

How will you evaluate the candidate

bull Skills

bull Personality traits

bull Qualifications

What will the interview process look like

bull Define the interview stages (application review phone screen

hiring manager interview etc)

bull Decide which qualities will be assessed in each stage

bull Plan out the questions or assessments for each quality

Screening

bull Based on your structured hiring template design an effective

scorecard and create clear evaluation criteria that your

interviewers can discuss in their roundups to make informed

objective decisions when assessing candidates (see page 21 for

a quick introduction to scorecards)

bull Ensure your focus attributes are specific measurable attainable

and relevant to the role(s) yoursquore recruiting for

bull Consider integrating your companyrsquos performance management

competencies (if possible) when determining focus attributes if

you have difficulty developing new ones

bull Using the performance outcomes for the role develop a bank

of behavioral and situational interview questions that match the

complexity of the role

bull Define the range of answers for your questions from exemplary

to unacceptable and train your interviewers on how to document

their feedback in the scorecard

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 19

bull Mitigate opportunities for late-stage interviewers to be

influencedbiased by previously submitted scorecards

bull Train members of employee resource groups (ERGs) to

participate as interviewers to ensure a balance of perspectives

bull Evaluate whether leveraging skills-based hiring makes sense for

your company

bull Work samples or assessments have the highest predictive

validity for job performance and grading them anonymously can

help mitigate bias

Selecting

bull Assessments like Predictive Index can help you identify

candidates who can balance out your team

bull Establish clear consistent candidate evaluation criteria for your

interviewers to adhere to as a part of a structured hiring process

bull Train your interviewers with proper interview prep material use

focus attributes to eliminate redundancy and require detailed

low-inference and objective interview notes for every attribute

assessed

bull Review all interview feedback ask probing questions about

vague or inferential comments and encourage interviewers to

anchor their decisions in the key takeaways of your interview

rubric

Hiring

bull Audit your compensation structure to ensure that salaries are at

market rate and determine your thresholds for salary negotiation

regardless of the candidate

bull Be transparent about your compensation philosophy and

consider not allowing anyone to negotiate compensation to

drive pay equity

bull Review comments from candidate surveys to measure candidate

experience and leverage the data to make iterations where

necessary throughout your process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 20

Creating attributes

Aim for at least 3ndash6 mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive

focus attributes per category for your scorecards Consider integrating

the SMART (Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-based)

framework to ensure your interviewers are enabled to measure what

matters

Building interview questions

Collaborate with hiring managers to design custom interview questions

for each attribute deemed necessary for success in the role Aligning

these questions to your scorecard focus attributes enables your

interviewers to make informed decisions that can more accurately

predict job performance

Establishing a decision-making framework

After developing your focus attributes and interview questions be sure

to define evaluation expectations for interview teams Ideally each

attribute-aligned question will include a specific rubric that outlines what

interviewers should look for in candidate answers and assessments

You can adapt this scorecard rating system to suit your company

Scorecard essentials for everyone

Scorecards are

fundamental to structured

hiring Consistent

candidate evaluation helps

mitigate interviewer bias

reduce total interview time

and drive a more evidence-

based decision framework

for selecting the right

talent

Herersquos a high-level

overview of scorecard

essentials

Strong yes is an exemplary response that clearly addresses each

element of the question with distinct examples (if appropriate)

Yes is a solid acceptable response that addresses most or all elements

of the question with clear examples

Mixed is an inconclusive response that may partially address the

question but does not provide the interviewer with evidence about the

candidatersquos capabilities A mixed rating does not equate to ldquoI donrsquot

knowrdquo ndash when an interviewer doesnrsquot have enough evidence they

should leave the attribute blank

No is an unacceptable response that ignores most or multiple

elements of the question

Strong no is an extremely unacceptable answer that doesnrsquot address

the question at all andor contains a comment that conflicts with your

companyrsquos culture Beyond that answers may blatantly disparage

others former employers communities etc

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 21

Part 4 For business leaders

Prioritizing DEampIForward-thinking business leaders (like you) are actively focused on

elevating their DEampI practices ndash not only to ensure that their teams

accurately reflect the demographics of their local population but also

to create a work environment that offers equitable opportunities where

people of all identities can thrive

Traditionally business leaders have looked to recruiting teams to

shoulder the work of diversifying the candidates moving through their

hiring pipelines However great business leaders understand that DEampI

is a company-wide commitment starting from the top ndash at Greenhouse

we call this the Talent Maker mindset

In a world where 57 of employees believe their companies should

improve diversity among their internal workforce and 86 of job

seekers actively seek out companies with diverse employee bases

proactively building inclusive hiring practices to allow for a better

diversity of hires isnrsquot just the right thing to do ndash itrsquos the smart thing

to do

McKinsey found that companies in the top quartile for racialethnic and

gender diversity were respectively 35 and 15 more likely to have

financial returns above the national median for their particular industry

That means being great at hiring today is about a lot more than how

quickly you make a hire Itrsquos also about exercising inclusive hiring

practices and having diversity on both sides of the interview process

among your interviewers and your candidates Itrsquos about business

leaders getting involved with DEampI to generate meaningful outcomes

No matter how valiantly a recruiter works to fill the top of a recruiting

funnel with underrepresented candidates if hiring managers donrsquot

similarly prioritize inclusive hiring those candidates will inevitably

leave the funnel ndash whether by choice or through the adverse impact of

unconscious bias

Letrsquos explore some of the ways that Talent Makers can boost DEampI in

their hiring strategies

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 22

Before focusing externally look internally at your own company

Diversifying your team isnrsquot only about bringing in a new hire who can

add a new perspective Itrsquos just as much about creating an environment

that allows that new hire to share their perspective and feel heard

Some leaders may skirt conversations around identity ndash by claiming to

be ldquocolorblindrdquo when it comes to race for example ndash but great leaders

lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each

employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

Ask questions

What does all this mean through the lens of hiring As you start

thinking about how to source underrepresented candidates answer

these questions

bull Why would a candidate from an underrepresented group want to

join your team

bull How would you articulate your commitment to supporting and

advocating for them as a manager

bull If you were releasing a public statement or articulating your

companyrsquos commitment to equity in response toin solidarity

with a societal movement how would you differentiate your

company from other organizations in a way thatrsquos authentic

bull More importantly how will you hold yourself accountable over

time for driving the changes you want to see

Next take a hard look at the demographics of your team Determine

the following

bull Which demographic groups ndash including but not limited to

gender raceethnicity sexual orientation industry experience

seniority education socioeconomic status and ability status ndash

are represented

bull Which groups are you lacking or are underrepresented

bull Look for patterns in the profiles of the people yoursquove hired up to

now ndash do they imply an inclination toward a certain personality

type background set of qualifications or even raceethnicity

bull If so how are you justifying that

Great leaders lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 23

bull Could you inadvertently be screening for privilege (think

preferred schools or degrees) rather than for ability and

potential

Have the conversation

Itrsquos time to invite your team into the conversation This can be the

uncomfortable part especially if yoursquore in an environment that

doesnrsquot have a precedent for such dialogues Actively sharing why

yoursquore prioritizing DEampI will signal its importance to your team help

address any discrepancies and start building the muscle for healthy

conversations on topics like race Yoursquoll also drive new awareness

and behaviors that can have outsized impacts on who you hire by

influencing your interview panels to be more open-minded and provide

better interviewing experiences to underrepresented candidates

Finally collaborate with your people operations or HR team to review

current department demographics based on self-reported employee

data This will lead to informed discussions about which groups to

focus on when diversifying hiring pipelines which ties back to your

goals around having better representation among your employees

Write your job descriptionsjob posts through an inclusive lens

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader

is a job description for a role on your team Itrsquos the first touchpoint

candidates have with your team and it directly impacts who does ndash

and doesnrsquot ndash engage in your interview process

Here are tips on how to make your job descriptions more inclusive ndash

and more attractive to the candidates yoursquore targeting

Identify and rework inherently biased language

Countless job descriptions contain language that is gendered which

can skew your talent pool before you even interact with candidates

Platforms like Textio leverage artificial intelligence to help remove

gender bias business jargon and other phrases that reinforce

stereotypes in written content

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader is a job description for a role on your team

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 24

Describe goals and growth opportunities

Focus on describing the exciting goals and clear objectives of the

job rather than listing day-to-day responsibilities that arenrsquot tied to

outcomes This will not only inspire candidates it will also help them

decide if what theyrsquoll own and learn in your job is aligned with their

career goals

Examples of unintentionally biased language

Masculine-tone

Exhaustive

Enforcement

Fearless

Feminine-tone

Transparent

Catalyst

In touch with

Textio writes ldquoA language pattern is considered gendered if it

statistically changes the proportion of men and women who respond

to a job post containing itrdquo Their research reveals that in jobs where

a man is hired the original job post averages almost twice as many

masculine-tone phrases as feminine In jobs where a woman is hired

Textio finds the exact opposite there are twice as many feminine-tone

phrases as masculine in the job post Here are a few common phrases

that exert this type of bias effect

bull What are the goals and outcomes you want this person to achieve

bull What are the success metrics being tracked and the desired outcomes

bull What does growth look like on your team when someone delivers

quarter over quarter

bull Who will this person be actively collaborating with

Questions to answer in your job description

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 25

Focus on skills over requirements

Carefully consider each requirement yoursquore adding to your job

description Can you shift your focus away from a specific number

of years of work experience or required degrees and move toward

a candidatersquos abilities Could you take it a step further and include

verbiage that encourages candidates to apply even if they might not

have all the necessary qualifications

Get other opinions

Continue to iterate and socialize your job description Share it with

someone whorsquos currently in the role or someone who represents an

underrepresented demographic group to learn if there are better ways to

position the content Incorporating feedback from different perspectives

is key to eliminating unintentional biases in the language

Use structured hiring to mitigate unconscious bias

Now that yoursquove communicated your focus on diversity and published

an inclusive job description you might think most of your work is

behind you After all isnrsquot the process mostly in your recruiterrsquos hands

from here Not just yet Once you have candidates entering your hiring

pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices

will really be put to the test

Consider adding an inclusivity statement

Is your job description unintentionally scaring candidates away

Research shows that women tend to only apply for jobs when they meet

100 of the requirements One way to encourage candidates from

diverse backgrounds to apply is by adding an inclusivity statement to

your list of qualifications Jobs are filled 6 faster when the description

includes an inclusion message or EEO statement Herersquos the Greenhouse

version (itrsquos the last item in the list of qualifications) ldquoYour own unique

talents If you donrsquot meet 100 of the qualifications outlined above tell

us why yoursquod be a great fit for this role in your cover letterrdquo

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 26

Here are a few important things to keep in mind to stay accountable to

your commitment to DEampI

Screen in over screening out

When reviewing resumes use the framework of screening in rather

than screening out While certain jobs will have hard requirements ndash an

engineer might need fluency in a certain coding language to perform in

their job ndash many employers are placing less emphasis on a strict set of

resume qualifications when determining who to move to the next stage

and thinking about how they can invest in training people who have

potential but donrsquot have specific qualifications

When conducting interviews many hiring managers get

understandably nervous when considering candidates from

backgrounds that are not currently represented on their team That

behavior is often grounded in similar-to-me bias and perpetuates

homogeneity Pay close attention to how you and your interviewers

react to historically underrepresented candidates and actively exercise

open-mindedness Your best hire may be the person who is different

from everyone else your team has hired in the past

Use the same criteria

To create an even playing field assess all candidates against the same

hiring criteria that yoursquove determined is necessary for the role which

is the core of structured hiring Similarly make sure each candidate is

answering the same interview questions from your interviewers This

allows your interviewers not only to focus on relevant areas to assess

but also to compare candidates in a data-driven and fair way in the

event yoursquore choosing between several finalists

Diversify your panel

Finally consider your interview panel Which demographic groups are

represented and which are not represented Do you have a panel of all

men Of all the same ethnicity or race Of all millennials If the answer

is yes to any of these scenarios how are you planning to address this

elephant in the room with candidates who identify differently Put

yourself in their shoes and be prepared to clearly explain why creating

a more diverse team is a priority for you

Once you have candidates entering your hiring pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices will really be put to the test

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 27

Measure wins by progress and improvements

If you donrsquot already have an extensive DEampI program at your

organization figuring out where to start can be challenging Who we

are informs everything we do ndash who we hire what we observe where

we live how we communicate ndash and it can be tough to know where to

focus when checking our own potential biases However starting with a

deep reflection of your hiring process is a way to take ownership of your

responsibility as a business leader to prioritize DEampI Your commitment

may not produce immediate results since company demographics

arenrsquot something that can change overnight but your efforts will drive

meaningful and positive change in the long run with respect to who you

hire and advocate for in your company

Own your influence As a leader you have the ability to influence others through your words

and actions Consider the ways you can demonstrate your commitment

to DEampI Here are some ideas to get you started

bull Sponsor an employee resource group and commit to helping

them achieve their goals

bull Attend diversity sourcing events and invite coworkers to join you

bull Refer candidates from overlookedunderrepresented groups to

open roles throughout your organization

bull Look for local organizations you can partner with ndash perhaps

you can sponsor a hackathon offer an internship or otherwise

support their mission

bull Ask for feedback and suggestions ndash your team might already

have some great ideas about how to prioritize DEampI

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 28

Part 5 For everyone

Creating an inclusive candidate experience to build stronger more diverse teamsEvery person in your company ndash regardless of their job title ndash can

contribute to inclusive hiring Whether theyrsquore making referrals

interviewing candidates or talking to prospects their actions can

have an impact on candidate experience Thatrsquos why itrsquos essential

to be intentional about the role everyone plays

Here are a few ways to create an inclusive candidate experience

Structured hiring

Structured hiring is an approach where selection decisions are

based on evidence not emotion Leaders align the role to a business

objective and build a rigorous and objective interview process

through conversations assignments and the like that can be used to

predict job performance Candidates are asked consistent questions

that connect back to specific attributes required for the role and

interviewers evaluate responses against a defined rating system in

the interview scorecard

In previous sections we covered how hiring managers and recruiters

can partner to implement structured hiring Remember that rolling

it out to your entire company will take time and effort Everyone

involved in the interview process will need to be trained on things

like how to conduct interviews take notes and score candidates

Consider integrating this training into new hire onboarding team

offsites or manager professional development to ensure everyone

stays up to date

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 29

Defining and hiring for culture add

Over the past several years wersquove seen companies move away

from assessing candidates on their ldquoculture fitrdquo because this term

can lead to homogeneous hiring But many companies still want

a way to determine whether candidates are aligned with their values

This is where ldquoculture addrdquo or values interviews can come into play

Culture-add interviews also give candidates the chance to meet

people from other teams and departments to get a broader sense of

your company culture

If culture-add interviews are part of your hiring process (or you want

them to be) yoursquoll want to consider the following

bull Who conducts culture-add interviews What is the selection

process like for identifying these interviewers within your

company and training them

bull Which questions does the culture-add interview cover How do

you define great acceptable and unacceptable answers

bull How often will you revisit and update this process

Hiring Maturity success story Neil Casey ThoughtWorks

In this limited podcast

series Greenhouse

President and Co-

founder Jon Stross sat

down with talent leaders

from leading companies

to discuss their Hiring

Maturity journeys Listen

in as Jon invites Neil

Casey Global Head of

Sourcing and Strategic

Hiring at ThoughtWorks

to discuss building an

inclusive hiring process

at scale

Explore the Greenhouse DEampI feature set

Take structured interviewing to the next level with solutions that enable

recruiters interviewers and hiring managers to operationalize and

scale fairer hiring practices Herersquos a brief overview of the Greenhouse

DEampI feature set

Data collection and reporting ndash Track self-reported applicant

demographic data throughout the hiring funnel (from sourcing

to offer) and measure pass-throughdrop-off rates

In-the-moment interventions ndash Reminders that nudge users to

slow down and avoid instinctive mental shortcuts that arenrsquot

rooted in evidence or tied to job-relevant criteria

Structured decision-making ndash Added guardrails that support

a more objective selection process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 30

Encouraging an inclusive approach to employee referrals

Employee referrals are a great way to get everyone involved in the

hiring process Itrsquos exciting to have a hand in shaping the future of your

company while helping someone in your network land their next role

But certain groups tend to benefit from referrals more than others

which can lead to more homogeneity

The good news is that referrals donrsquot automatically lead to

homogeneous hires according to research by DEampI consultancy

Paradigm They partnered with Pinterest to determine why employee

referrals tend to be homogenous Is it because peoplersquos networks

are truly that homogenous or is it due to pattern-matching bias

(employees are looking around at their coworkers and only thinking

of people who are similar to the existing team) Paradigm found that

when a leader asked employees to be more mindful about diversity

when offering referrals especially people of color and women it made

a tangible impact over the following six weeks So be sure to encourage

employees to consider diversity when making referrals

DonorsChoose takes a data-driven approach to DEampI in their hiring

DonorsChoosersquos challenge Develop a hiring process that aligns with

the organizationrsquos commitment to DEampI in their work in education

DonorsChoose has a high standard for their DEampI hiring efforts and

wanted to intentionally drive a more diverse candidate pool To do so

they had to prioritize gathering better data on diversity in their hiring

pools Without that data conversations between the People and Talent

team and hiring managers felt uninformed and ineffective

DonorsChoose wanted data at their fingertips to drive their DEampI

hiring efforts The Greenhouse DEampI feature set offered them a robust

set of tools Since turning on custom demographic reporting the

DonorsChoose team has seen an improvement and recognized that

now 58 of the candidates who have made it to the face-to-face

interview stage at DonorsChoose have identified as people of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 31

ConclusionWe recommend sitting with these strategies for a few days rather than

immediately jumping into action Take time to reflect on your next

steps and collaborate with your internal partners in order to create the

optimal DEampI hiring strategy for your company

Remember that when it comes to DEampI therersquos no ldquoend staterdquo to arrive

at Wersquore all on the same journey of curiosity listening progress and

discovery

If yoursquod like to do further reading or research on any of the topics we

covered wersquove curated a list of recommended reading for you

We are your partners and allies and stand beside you in this work and

will help you as best we can All of us at Greenhouse are committed to

bringing about lasting change and we will be your partner in creating

a more equitable hiring process so you can build more inclusive

stronger teams

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 32

Recommended reading

DEampI strategy Creating an Effective Diversity and Inclusion

Program

DEampI strategy Hiring Diverse Candidates is Not Enough ndash

Itrsquos About Keeping Them

DEampI strategy Toward a Racially Just Workplace

DEampI strategy Why So Many Organizations Stay White

DEampI strategy Do Your DampI Efforts Include People with

Disabilities

Hiring If Therersquos Only One Woman in Your Candidate

Pool Therersquos Statisically No Chance Shersquoll Be

Hired

Hiring A Data-Driven Approach to Hiring More

Diverse Talent

Hiring How to Alter Your Hiring Practices to Increase

Diversity

Hiring Research How Speech Patterns Lead to

Hiring Bias

Intersectionality Do Your Diversity Efforts Reflect the

Experiences of Women of Color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 33

Recommended reading (continued)

Sourcing Could This Be The Secret To Hiring More

Women And People Of Color

Sourcing Diversity Sourcing Strategy 3 LinkedIn

Search Tips from Boolean Master Glen

Cathey

Sourcing How to increase workplace diversity with

employee referrals

Unconscious bias Managing Unconscious Bias Strategies to

Manage Bias amp Build More Diverse Inclusive

Organizations

Unconscious bias 50 Ways to Fight Bias

Unconscious bias 12 Unconscious Bias Examples and How to

Avoid Them in the Workplace

Unconscious bias Harvard Project Implicit Association Tests

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 34

Greenhouse is the hiring software company

We help businesses be great at hiring through

our powerful hiring approach complete suite of

software and services and large partner ecosystem ndash

so businesses can hire for whatrsquos next

To learn more visit

greenhouseio

Page 2: eBook Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company

Contents

Introduction 03

Part 1 Getting started

Take a self-assessment of your current state 05

Part 2 For hiring managers and interviewers

Strengthening interviewing skills and questions 07

Part 3 For recruiting teams

Recognizing and addressing biased behaviors in hiring 16

Part 4 For business leaders

Prioritizing DEampI 22

Part 5 For everyone

Creating an inclusive candidate experience to build stronger more diverse teams 29

Conclusion 32

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 2

IntroductionThe role of diversity equity and inclusion (DEampI) in talent strategy has

never been more important The way your team attracts recruits and

hires a diverse candidate set can boost your competitive advantage

and solidify your identity as a great employer Candidates are now

taking a closer look at companiesrsquo composition and commitment to

DEampI when evaluating offers ndash 86 of job seekers say a companyrsquos

diversity is an important factor

But who is responsible for building and maintaining inclusive

hiring practices Too often it is yet another responsibility added to

recruitersrsquo already lengthy to-do lists Like any strategic initiative

prioritizing DEampI should be a shared responsibility and not left solely

to a single team to drive Thatrsquos why wersquore sharing these inclusive

hiring strategies that support everyone at your company including

your recruiters hiring managers and business leaders Everyone from

your executives to the people on your hiring panels have a part to play

and a responsibility to be as inclusive as possible

33

While there are no shortcuts on the journey of embracing and

operationalizing DEampI we hope these strategies will be your compass

and companion as you catalyze your work in this area Recruiting

interviewing and selecting talent with an equity and inclusion lens will

distinguish your company as an employer of choice for talent that will

come from increasingly diverse backgrounds in the years to come

Our goal with this eBook is to provide actionable advice and solid

strategies for people in every department and role We invite you to

start with Part 1 for some self-reflection to see where you are today

Next you can choose the sections that are most relevant to you and

dive in Herersquos a quick overview

bull For hiring managers and interviewers Strengthening

interviewing skills and questions

bull For recruiting teams Recognizing and addressing biased

behaviors in hiring

bull For business leaders Prioritizing DEampI

bull For everyone Creating an inclusive candidate experience to

build stronger more diverse teams

Of course feel free to read the entire eBook if yoursquod like to get

the big picture of promoting DEampI throughout your organization

Letrsquos get started

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 4

Part 1 Getting started

Take a self-assessment of your current stateBefore jumping into specific tactics we encourage you to work through

this self-assessment

Letrsquos start with a hypothetical scenario focused on inclusion Imagine

you are the hiring manager tasked with hiring a head of diversity for

your company A finalist candidate asks you the following questions

How would you answer And how would you rate yourself and your

process on based on those answers

Remember the point of this exercise is to be honest with yourself and

accurately describe where you are today

Questions Scorecard rating

Do you actively evaluate your hiring process

to compare your inbound (direct applicants)

and outbound (sourced passive candidates

referrals) talent

Give a 1ndash2 sentence definition of ldquoculture

fitrdquo and examples of how it shows up at your

company If your company indexes hiring

decisions against this definition do you

educate hiring teams (with examples) so that

everyone is aligned on what a ldquomisfitrdquo is

If so how often If not why not

How well does the team assess the predictive

validity (how candidates perform once they

join your company) of your interview process

How does your team incorporate data or

feedback from people managers to test how

interview methods (questions assessments)

correlate with performance and how do you

use that data to refine the process

Scorecard ratings key

Strong no

No

Mixed

Yes

Strong yes

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 5

How much of a premium do recruiters at your

company place on recruiting talent from your

industry How might the lack of diversity in

your industry reduce the chances of building a

diverse pool

What does interviewer education look like at

your company right now Which components

are included What criteria must employees

meet to become eligible to interview

How does your company define and measure

interviewer effectiveness If an employee is

not meeting expectations what remediation

or learning opportunities does your team offer

to improve their skills in hiring

Which hiring source (referrals your career

page LinkedIn etc) has the highest yield

conversion of candidates you hire With

that source how does your recruiting team

integrate targeted marketing to communities

that are underrepresented in your company

How does your recruiting team engage with

employee attritionfirst-year churn data How

have you used it to refine your hiring (and

onboarding if your team owns it) process Do

you segment that data by demographic (race

gender etc) and if so how does that impact

your recruitment marketing or sourcing

strategy

How does your recruiting team determine

articulate and differentiate minimum and

preferred qualifications in your job posts

What did you learn from going through this exercise Does anything

jump out as a particular strength or area for improvement Use your

answers to launch conversations with others in your company who are

committed to DEampI

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 6

Part 2 For hiring managers and interviewers

Strengthening interviewing skills and questions Hiring managers play a critical role in recruiting Not only do you make

the final call about who gets hired but you also shape the approach to

interviewing and guide your team through the evaluation process

Have you ever received unclear or insufficient feedback from

interviewers Or feedback that wasnrsquot aligned with your expectations of

the interview focus

Using consistent questions and evaluation criteria significantly reduces

the likelihood that your interviewers will rely on snap decisions when

interviewing candidates This structured approach to hiring helps you

make more informed decisions about your next hire

We suggest the following approach

Step 1 Select the focus attributes yoursquod like

interviewers to assess

Step 2 Write custom questions that test for each

focus attribute

Step 3 Create rubrics for your interviewers to measure

the quality of a candidatersquos responses relative to

the scorecard

Step 4 Train your interviewers on taking notes that are

rooted in evidence not inference

Now letrsquos go through each of these steps with some examples to get

you started

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 7

Select the focus attributes yoursquod like interviewers to assess

What are the skills and qualities a candidate will need to be successful

in this role If itrsquos an existing role you may already have a clear idea If

itrsquos a new role you might need to start with your best guess based on

the responsibilities the role entails and refine it over time In either case

spend some time talking to members of your team your recruiting

partner and other company leaders to pinpoint the required skills

As a rule of thumb we recommend coming up with three to six

attributes per specific category such as cross-functional collaboration

people management and technical ability The SMART framework

(Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-based) is useful for

keeping interviewers on track

Step 2

Write custom questions that test for each focus attribute

Once you have your list of focus attributes yoursquoll want to write

questions that help interviewers test for those qualities

Pro tip

Instead of opting for

generic attributes

like ldquoorganizational

skillsrdquo consider more

targeted descriptions

like ldquomanaging multiple

prioritiesrdquo that clarify the

specific competency a

candidate would need to

be effective in the role

3Ps of interviewing We created the Purpose Process and People model to help categorize

interview questions into three tiers

Purpose questions help you identify what motivates a candidate

and assess alignment with your team andor companyrsquos values

Process questions help you measure how a candidate solves

problems thinks creatively and manages projects and deadlines

People questions help you determine how a candidate

would interact with others in your organization and how they

demonstrate emotional intelligence in the workplace

Step 1

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 8

How do you translate focus attributes into interview questions Look

for ways to dig in and get detailed information based on specific

situations

Here are a few examples to get the ball rolling We chose one attribute

for each of the 3 Ps learning and continuous improvement for Purpose

managing multiple priorities for Process and collaboration for People

with a set of sample questions for each attribute

Purpose ndash Identifying what motivates a candidate

Attribute Sample questions

Learning and continuous improvement

Name three things yoursquove done in the last few years to grow in your career

Describe a time when you proactively sought out feedback to improve your productivity or effectiveness in a role

bull What led you to seek that feedback

bull How did you determine the appropriate individuals to ask

bull How did you apply the feedback you received

bull How do you keep those learnings in mind in how you work today

Discuss an example of feedback you received that you did not agree with

bull What was the feedback

bull Why did you disagree

bull How did you communicate with the person that shared it with you

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 9

Process ndash Measuring how a candidate gets things done

Attribute Sample questions

Managing multiple priorities

Describe a time when you needed to delegate a project or task to someone on your team who you did not trust in order to prioritize something else on your list

bull What was the deliverable and why did you need to delegate it

bull What made you skeptical about this personrsquos ability to execute

bull How did you navigate the tradeoff between delegating and completing it on your own

Give me an example of a time when you needed to manage up because your workload had become unreasonable

bull What circumstances led to this

bull How did you negotiate which deliverables needed to be prioritized or shared with someone else

bull Did you encounter any pushback If so how did you manage it

Tell me about a time when you were trying to meet a deadline but were interrupted and did not make the deadline

bull How did you respond

People ndash Determining how a candidate interacts with others

Attribute Sample questions

Collaboration Describe a situation where you and your manager (or another leader at your company) disagreed on the approach to take on a project or deliverable

bull How did you evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of both approaches How did you know yours was the better option

bull How did you communicate your position to your manager How did they respond bull What was the outcome

Tell me about a time when you worked on a project and a peer was not meeting expectations What actions did you take

bull How did you balance the tradeoff between holding the person accountable and completing the work yourself

Share an example of a time when your emotional intelligence helped you in collaborating with someone who had a completely different communication style

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 10

Step 3

Create rubrics for your interviewers to measure the quality of a candidatersquos responses relative to the scorecard

Now that you have your focus attributes and interview questions

ready itrsquos time to consider how yoursquod like interviewers to score their

responses

This is the rating system we use at Greenhouse ndash feel free to make

changes or use it as is

We recommend creating rubrics for interviewers so they know how to

assess responses for every question they ask during the interview

Strong no No Mixed Yes Strong yes

1111

Herersquos an example rubric for assessing responses to ldquoTell me about

a time when you were communicating with someone and they didnrsquot

understand you What did you dordquo

Strong no No Mixed Yes Strong yes

Provides an unclear

description of

the relationship

dynamiccontext and

struggles to outline

their summary of

the situation to the

interviewer

Offers an indistinct

summary of the

intended message and

does not acknowledge

any unique relationship

dynamicsadded

context that may

have contributed to

the communication

breakdown

Does not take

accountability for

their role in the

communication

breakdown (for

example ldquoI donrsquot

see why they didnrsquot

understandrdquo) and has

not demonstrated how

they learned from this

situation for future

conversations with the

person or others in the

workplace

Offers a vague

depiction of the

situation (the message

they were looking to

convey the relationship

with the other person

and where the

miscommunication

occurred)

Provides a loose

outline of the steps

taken to identify a

plan to remedy the

communication

breakdown OR a

cursory summary of

what they learned from

the experience

Demonstrates empathy

for the other person

but does not leverage

it in articulating

their strategy

for revising their

approach for follow-up

conversations

Clearly defines the

intended vision of

the message for the

other person and

discusses wherehow

the message was lost in

translation

Acknowledges any

unique or relevant

relationship dynamics

that might have

contributed to the

message not being

clearly interpreted

Demonstrates empathy

in identifying the source

of the communication

breakdown and holds

self accountable

for identifying an

alternative way to

communicate with the

person

Clarifies any

subsequent steps

in preserving and

or growing the

relationship with

the person and

added measures

taken in adjusting

communication

(delivery style

approach) for other

conversations

Clearly defines the

intended vision of

the message for the

other person and

discusses wherehow

the message was lost in

translation

Acknowledges any

unique or relevant

relationship dynamics

that might have

contributed to the

message not being

clearly interpreted

Demonstrates empathy

in identifying the source

of the communication

breakdown and holds

self accountable

for identifying an

alternative way to

communicate with the

person

Clarifies any

subsequent steps

in preserving and

or growing the

relationship with

the person and

added measures

taken in adjusting

communication

(delivery style

approach) for other

conversations

Considers the

experience a learning

opportunity to iterate

and situate their

communication style to

match the expectations

of the audience

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 12

Step 4

Train your interviewers on taking notes that are rooted in evidence not inference

Finally yoursquoll need to hold interviewers accountable for capturing

detailed objective notes from every interview

Itrsquos important to note that without coaching interviewers probably

wonrsquot know how to do this You can help them by providing detailed

examples of what yoursquore looking for

Here are some sample scorecard notes

Rating Notes

Strong yes Lucia discussed her experience in her current role as Director of People where she is currently

responsible for recruitinghiring (8 roles to be filled within the next 2 months in their DC Ohio and

Atlanta markets) coordinating logistics (flights lodging meals programming) for an upcoming

national new hire orientation (15 attendees) and planning for the company-wide (150 ppl)

offsite retreat For hiring she mentioned how she schedules phone screens at various intervals

throughout the day and commits to taking notes on the call and scheduling next-round interviews

with hiring managers Structures days around certain ldquowork blocksrdquo where she knows what needs

to get done and will communicate if things are either taking longer than expected or if there are

roadblocks and collaborates as needed to find solutions Mentioned that she is a huge fan of

automation (Google Calendarrsquos DNS blocks) and keeps a scrolling list of to-do items Shared that

strong relationships with hiring managers made things a lot easier with schedulingprocess and

that the orientation went off without a hitch Team retreat was a multi-month effort and the team

enjoyed the experience more than the previous year both programmatically and logistically

Yes Joseacute shared about working as a Program Manager with a youth-development nonprofit and how

they were tapped to work on special projects from the Chief Program Officer on top of navigating

a complex situation with their school partner and how theyrsquove been ldquogetting their feet wetrdquo by

working with the development team on an upcoming funding proposal Their answers lacked

some detail (didnrsquot provide a backstory about the relationship with the school partner ldquothings

have always been tense but Irsquove been trying to remain positiverdquo) but were overall solid in how

theyrsquod tried to use time-tracking software to set alarms for when it was time to pivot and focus on

a different task They did mention that the team was short-staffed and that was why they decided

to step up and take on more responsibility even though they knew it would require additional work

on their end and being more organized Talked about how they have regular syncs with the CPO

to offer updates on their progress Also set up a weekly 2-hour block to work onedit the funding

proposal as theyrsquore interested in ldquodeveloping musclerdquo in fundraising

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 13

Mixed I gave Janet a ldquomixedrdquo here because I wasnrsquot convinced that her approach toward balancing

multiple projects was actually impactful or effective despite her laying out all the different steps

she took We talked about her experience as a second-year teacher (at a brand-new school)

juggling making parent calls grading lesson planning and her responsibilities as a self-appointed

sponsor for the schoolrsquos LGBTQ+ student association She talked about how she was able to use a

calendar and alerts in her phone but when probed admitted to having dropped a lot of balls with

grading student assignments since she was more focused on lesson planning and being present

for the student group Admitted that she could have done a much better job with balancing her

schedule and being more realistic with her bandwidth but also shared that she got feedback

from her Assistant Principal that she may need to scale back with the student group Again shersquos

capable of being proactive with taking on a lot but I donrsquot think I have enough evidence to say yes

or no on her ability to manage it all effectively and course correct as needed

No Morris shared an example of a time when as an Account Manager he had to navigate renewal

conversations with three different customers but spent the majority of the time discussing how

he wasnrsquot able to secure two of the renewals after focusing too heavily on one customer I probed

to learn more about his approachtechnique and he said that ldquoeverything was urgent so I didnrsquot

really have an opportunity to prioritize as much as I could haverdquo I probed more and learned that he

hadnrsquot responded to key emails from his customers and had assumed that since theyrsquod renewed

in the previous year that they would do so again Did admit to learning from the experience but Irsquom

not convinced that this example showcased his ability to do so with ease

Strong no Damon struggled to give a clear response but from what I could glean he has had a difficult

relationship with several hiring managers (HMs) in his most recent role as a full-cycle recruiter and

would often drop balls (forgetting to add notes double scheduling phone screens and not turning

around job posts quickly enough to match manager expectations) He mentioned one scenario

where he had challenges working with one HM and blamed them for the issue When I probed I

learned that Damon had neglected to ask about the candidatersquos salary requirements placing the

HM in a tough situation where they had to communicate that the candidatersquos expectations were

20 higher than the budgeted amount Damon attributed the breakdown as an ldquooversightrdquo and

shared that James (the HM) was ldquonot very likeable according to other recruiters that worked with

him beforerdquo and that he ldquoknew it would be an issuerdquo working with him on this new req

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 14

Sharing examples like these will help your team know what yoursquore

looking for Review interviewersrsquo feedback regularly Ask probing

questions about any comments that are vague or excessively

inferential Encourage them to anchor their decisions in the key

takeaways of your interview rubric

While the steps outlined above might be a pretty significant shift from

the way your team has been approaching interviewing making these

changes to your interview process can help mitigate bias and open the

door to qualified candidates from a broader range of backgrounds

Remember that you donrsquot have to do this all on your own ndash your

recruiters are your partners throughout this process Be sure to seek

their advice and input on attributes interview questions decision-

making criteria and any other area where you need a little extra

support

Pro tip

Encourage interviewers

to structure their

conversations with brief

intros (the longer the

intro the greater the

odds that an interviewer

will base their decision

on likability rather than

merit) Explain to your

team that they are

evaluating candidates

based on what they

can contribute not

popularity

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 15

Part 3 For recruiting teams

Recognizing and addressing biased behaviors in hiringAs a recruiter yoursquore responsible for the tools and processes that

shape hiring in your organization And when your company commits

to inclusive hiring a hefty portion of the responsibility will also fall on

your plate

Promoting inclusion often begins by looking at your hiring process

and putting systems in place to mitigate bias When you limit the role

bias plays in decision-making you can open the door to candidates

from traditionally underrepresented groups

In this section wersquoll offer a broad overview of how to recognize and

address bias in hiring

Recognizing biased behaviors in hiring

How can recruiters help their organizations mitigate bias in the hiring

process You can start by understanding when and where bias is likely

to pop up Wersquove summarized some of the research and collected a few

resources to help you begin your exploration of this topic

As you read through the points on the next page do any problematic

aspects of your existing process surface If so make a note to dive

deeper into those topics Wersquoll share some ideas in the next few

sections to give you a jumping-off point

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 16

bull Jargon and superficial language in job posts can

discourage women from applying and perpetuate inequality

bull Over-indexing on referrals from a homogenous workforce

(typically with less-diverse networks) can close the door for

people of color and women

bull Measuring talent through academic or employer history (both

have low predictive validity on job performance) limits access

for candidates excluded from those networks

bull People of color and women are more likely to receive offers if

another finalist shares their identity

bull Low-diversity interview teams may signal larger issues for

candidates from underrepresented groups

bull Resumes with more ldquowhite-soundingrdquo names are more likely to

be advanced in the hiring process

bull Candidates are often evaluated on their perceived ease in

assimilating or fitting into the culture rather than their capacity

to perform in the role and add to the companyrsquos culture

bull Traditional unstructured interviews are highly vulnerable to

bias ndash without consistent criteria or rubrics poorly trained

interviewers make impulse-driven decisions when evaluating

candidates

bull Interview notes are often scant high-inference or based on

likability rather than objective with examples that validate

advancement or rejection

bull Gender pay gaps persist in part because women fear reprisal for

initiating salary negotiation (from other women and men) and

compensation disparities are even wider for women of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 17

Addressing biased behaviors

Bias is a mental algorithm that can be disrupted through conscious

behavior change Effective and inclusive hiring isnrsquot so much a skill as

it is a collection of habits that can enable more inclusive outcomes and

change company cultures

Here are some practical steps you can take and tools to try out based

on the observations you noted earlier Wersquove divided these tips by

pipeline stage (sourcing screening selecting and hiring)

Sourcing

bull Clarify the attributes yoursquore looking for (capabilities performance

objectives etc) during your kickoff meeting using a structured

hiring template

bull Consider partnering with text-augmenting software like Textio

TapRecruit or Gender Decoder to expose and change the words

that may disrupt diversity at the top of your funnel

bull Solicit referrals for underrepresented talent (with added financial

incentive if possible) as an important DEampI initiative that can

also lead to greater retention and lower reports of workplace

inequity

bull The recruiting platform Gem recommends using diversity salient

strategies like targeting talent from bootcamps or affinity-based

organizations like TransTech Social and the National Society of

Black Engineers

bull Audit your job posts to determine which requirements are

essential and which are extraneous remove jargon and focus on

producing (and disseminating) content that appeals to the widest

net possible

bull Use Boolean searches in LinkedIn to find overlooked talent

by searching for alumni of colleges with high diversity indices

or affinity-based organizations like fraternities sororities and

cultural interest groups

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 18

A simple structured hiring template

Want to add more structure

to your hiring process

Here are a few questions

and points to consider next

time you open a new role

Who are you trying to hire

bull Role name

bull Department

bull Who will this person report to

bull What business objectives are you trying to meet with this role

How will you evaluate the candidate

bull Skills

bull Personality traits

bull Qualifications

What will the interview process look like

bull Define the interview stages (application review phone screen

hiring manager interview etc)

bull Decide which qualities will be assessed in each stage

bull Plan out the questions or assessments for each quality

Screening

bull Based on your structured hiring template design an effective

scorecard and create clear evaluation criteria that your

interviewers can discuss in their roundups to make informed

objective decisions when assessing candidates (see page 21 for

a quick introduction to scorecards)

bull Ensure your focus attributes are specific measurable attainable

and relevant to the role(s) yoursquore recruiting for

bull Consider integrating your companyrsquos performance management

competencies (if possible) when determining focus attributes if

you have difficulty developing new ones

bull Using the performance outcomes for the role develop a bank

of behavioral and situational interview questions that match the

complexity of the role

bull Define the range of answers for your questions from exemplary

to unacceptable and train your interviewers on how to document

their feedback in the scorecard

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 19

bull Mitigate opportunities for late-stage interviewers to be

influencedbiased by previously submitted scorecards

bull Train members of employee resource groups (ERGs) to

participate as interviewers to ensure a balance of perspectives

bull Evaluate whether leveraging skills-based hiring makes sense for

your company

bull Work samples or assessments have the highest predictive

validity for job performance and grading them anonymously can

help mitigate bias

Selecting

bull Assessments like Predictive Index can help you identify

candidates who can balance out your team

bull Establish clear consistent candidate evaluation criteria for your

interviewers to adhere to as a part of a structured hiring process

bull Train your interviewers with proper interview prep material use

focus attributes to eliminate redundancy and require detailed

low-inference and objective interview notes for every attribute

assessed

bull Review all interview feedback ask probing questions about

vague or inferential comments and encourage interviewers to

anchor their decisions in the key takeaways of your interview

rubric

Hiring

bull Audit your compensation structure to ensure that salaries are at

market rate and determine your thresholds for salary negotiation

regardless of the candidate

bull Be transparent about your compensation philosophy and

consider not allowing anyone to negotiate compensation to

drive pay equity

bull Review comments from candidate surveys to measure candidate

experience and leverage the data to make iterations where

necessary throughout your process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 20

Creating attributes

Aim for at least 3ndash6 mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive

focus attributes per category for your scorecards Consider integrating

the SMART (Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-based)

framework to ensure your interviewers are enabled to measure what

matters

Building interview questions

Collaborate with hiring managers to design custom interview questions

for each attribute deemed necessary for success in the role Aligning

these questions to your scorecard focus attributes enables your

interviewers to make informed decisions that can more accurately

predict job performance

Establishing a decision-making framework

After developing your focus attributes and interview questions be sure

to define evaluation expectations for interview teams Ideally each

attribute-aligned question will include a specific rubric that outlines what

interviewers should look for in candidate answers and assessments

You can adapt this scorecard rating system to suit your company

Scorecard essentials for everyone

Scorecards are

fundamental to structured

hiring Consistent

candidate evaluation helps

mitigate interviewer bias

reduce total interview time

and drive a more evidence-

based decision framework

for selecting the right

talent

Herersquos a high-level

overview of scorecard

essentials

Strong yes is an exemplary response that clearly addresses each

element of the question with distinct examples (if appropriate)

Yes is a solid acceptable response that addresses most or all elements

of the question with clear examples

Mixed is an inconclusive response that may partially address the

question but does not provide the interviewer with evidence about the

candidatersquos capabilities A mixed rating does not equate to ldquoI donrsquot

knowrdquo ndash when an interviewer doesnrsquot have enough evidence they

should leave the attribute blank

No is an unacceptable response that ignores most or multiple

elements of the question

Strong no is an extremely unacceptable answer that doesnrsquot address

the question at all andor contains a comment that conflicts with your

companyrsquos culture Beyond that answers may blatantly disparage

others former employers communities etc

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 21

Part 4 For business leaders

Prioritizing DEampIForward-thinking business leaders (like you) are actively focused on

elevating their DEampI practices ndash not only to ensure that their teams

accurately reflect the demographics of their local population but also

to create a work environment that offers equitable opportunities where

people of all identities can thrive

Traditionally business leaders have looked to recruiting teams to

shoulder the work of diversifying the candidates moving through their

hiring pipelines However great business leaders understand that DEampI

is a company-wide commitment starting from the top ndash at Greenhouse

we call this the Talent Maker mindset

In a world where 57 of employees believe their companies should

improve diversity among their internal workforce and 86 of job

seekers actively seek out companies with diverse employee bases

proactively building inclusive hiring practices to allow for a better

diversity of hires isnrsquot just the right thing to do ndash itrsquos the smart thing

to do

McKinsey found that companies in the top quartile for racialethnic and

gender diversity were respectively 35 and 15 more likely to have

financial returns above the national median for their particular industry

That means being great at hiring today is about a lot more than how

quickly you make a hire Itrsquos also about exercising inclusive hiring

practices and having diversity on both sides of the interview process

among your interviewers and your candidates Itrsquos about business

leaders getting involved with DEampI to generate meaningful outcomes

No matter how valiantly a recruiter works to fill the top of a recruiting

funnel with underrepresented candidates if hiring managers donrsquot

similarly prioritize inclusive hiring those candidates will inevitably

leave the funnel ndash whether by choice or through the adverse impact of

unconscious bias

Letrsquos explore some of the ways that Talent Makers can boost DEampI in

their hiring strategies

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 22

Before focusing externally look internally at your own company

Diversifying your team isnrsquot only about bringing in a new hire who can

add a new perspective Itrsquos just as much about creating an environment

that allows that new hire to share their perspective and feel heard

Some leaders may skirt conversations around identity ndash by claiming to

be ldquocolorblindrdquo when it comes to race for example ndash but great leaders

lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each

employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

Ask questions

What does all this mean through the lens of hiring As you start

thinking about how to source underrepresented candidates answer

these questions

bull Why would a candidate from an underrepresented group want to

join your team

bull How would you articulate your commitment to supporting and

advocating for them as a manager

bull If you were releasing a public statement or articulating your

companyrsquos commitment to equity in response toin solidarity

with a societal movement how would you differentiate your

company from other organizations in a way thatrsquos authentic

bull More importantly how will you hold yourself accountable over

time for driving the changes you want to see

Next take a hard look at the demographics of your team Determine

the following

bull Which demographic groups ndash including but not limited to

gender raceethnicity sexual orientation industry experience

seniority education socioeconomic status and ability status ndash

are represented

bull Which groups are you lacking or are underrepresented

bull Look for patterns in the profiles of the people yoursquove hired up to

now ndash do they imply an inclination toward a certain personality

type background set of qualifications or even raceethnicity

bull If so how are you justifying that

Great leaders lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 23

bull Could you inadvertently be screening for privilege (think

preferred schools or degrees) rather than for ability and

potential

Have the conversation

Itrsquos time to invite your team into the conversation This can be the

uncomfortable part especially if yoursquore in an environment that

doesnrsquot have a precedent for such dialogues Actively sharing why

yoursquore prioritizing DEampI will signal its importance to your team help

address any discrepancies and start building the muscle for healthy

conversations on topics like race Yoursquoll also drive new awareness

and behaviors that can have outsized impacts on who you hire by

influencing your interview panels to be more open-minded and provide

better interviewing experiences to underrepresented candidates

Finally collaborate with your people operations or HR team to review

current department demographics based on self-reported employee

data This will lead to informed discussions about which groups to

focus on when diversifying hiring pipelines which ties back to your

goals around having better representation among your employees

Write your job descriptionsjob posts through an inclusive lens

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader

is a job description for a role on your team Itrsquos the first touchpoint

candidates have with your team and it directly impacts who does ndash

and doesnrsquot ndash engage in your interview process

Here are tips on how to make your job descriptions more inclusive ndash

and more attractive to the candidates yoursquore targeting

Identify and rework inherently biased language

Countless job descriptions contain language that is gendered which

can skew your talent pool before you even interact with candidates

Platforms like Textio leverage artificial intelligence to help remove

gender bias business jargon and other phrases that reinforce

stereotypes in written content

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader is a job description for a role on your team

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 24

Describe goals and growth opportunities

Focus on describing the exciting goals and clear objectives of the

job rather than listing day-to-day responsibilities that arenrsquot tied to

outcomes This will not only inspire candidates it will also help them

decide if what theyrsquoll own and learn in your job is aligned with their

career goals

Examples of unintentionally biased language

Masculine-tone

Exhaustive

Enforcement

Fearless

Feminine-tone

Transparent

Catalyst

In touch with

Textio writes ldquoA language pattern is considered gendered if it

statistically changes the proportion of men and women who respond

to a job post containing itrdquo Their research reveals that in jobs where

a man is hired the original job post averages almost twice as many

masculine-tone phrases as feminine In jobs where a woman is hired

Textio finds the exact opposite there are twice as many feminine-tone

phrases as masculine in the job post Here are a few common phrases

that exert this type of bias effect

bull What are the goals and outcomes you want this person to achieve

bull What are the success metrics being tracked and the desired outcomes

bull What does growth look like on your team when someone delivers

quarter over quarter

bull Who will this person be actively collaborating with

Questions to answer in your job description

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 25

Focus on skills over requirements

Carefully consider each requirement yoursquore adding to your job

description Can you shift your focus away from a specific number

of years of work experience or required degrees and move toward

a candidatersquos abilities Could you take it a step further and include

verbiage that encourages candidates to apply even if they might not

have all the necessary qualifications

Get other opinions

Continue to iterate and socialize your job description Share it with

someone whorsquos currently in the role or someone who represents an

underrepresented demographic group to learn if there are better ways to

position the content Incorporating feedback from different perspectives

is key to eliminating unintentional biases in the language

Use structured hiring to mitigate unconscious bias

Now that yoursquove communicated your focus on diversity and published

an inclusive job description you might think most of your work is

behind you After all isnrsquot the process mostly in your recruiterrsquos hands

from here Not just yet Once you have candidates entering your hiring

pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices

will really be put to the test

Consider adding an inclusivity statement

Is your job description unintentionally scaring candidates away

Research shows that women tend to only apply for jobs when they meet

100 of the requirements One way to encourage candidates from

diverse backgrounds to apply is by adding an inclusivity statement to

your list of qualifications Jobs are filled 6 faster when the description

includes an inclusion message or EEO statement Herersquos the Greenhouse

version (itrsquos the last item in the list of qualifications) ldquoYour own unique

talents If you donrsquot meet 100 of the qualifications outlined above tell

us why yoursquod be a great fit for this role in your cover letterrdquo

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 26

Here are a few important things to keep in mind to stay accountable to

your commitment to DEampI

Screen in over screening out

When reviewing resumes use the framework of screening in rather

than screening out While certain jobs will have hard requirements ndash an

engineer might need fluency in a certain coding language to perform in

their job ndash many employers are placing less emphasis on a strict set of

resume qualifications when determining who to move to the next stage

and thinking about how they can invest in training people who have

potential but donrsquot have specific qualifications

When conducting interviews many hiring managers get

understandably nervous when considering candidates from

backgrounds that are not currently represented on their team That

behavior is often grounded in similar-to-me bias and perpetuates

homogeneity Pay close attention to how you and your interviewers

react to historically underrepresented candidates and actively exercise

open-mindedness Your best hire may be the person who is different

from everyone else your team has hired in the past

Use the same criteria

To create an even playing field assess all candidates against the same

hiring criteria that yoursquove determined is necessary for the role which

is the core of structured hiring Similarly make sure each candidate is

answering the same interview questions from your interviewers This

allows your interviewers not only to focus on relevant areas to assess

but also to compare candidates in a data-driven and fair way in the

event yoursquore choosing between several finalists

Diversify your panel

Finally consider your interview panel Which demographic groups are

represented and which are not represented Do you have a panel of all

men Of all the same ethnicity or race Of all millennials If the answer

is yes to any of these scenarios how are you planning to address this

elephant in the room with candidates who identify differently Put

yourself in their shoes and be prepared to clearly explain why creating

a more diverse team is a priority for you

Once you have candidates entering your hiring pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices will really be put to the test

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 27

Measure wins by progress and improvements

If you donrsquot already have an extensive DEampI program at your

organization figuring out where to start can be challenging Who we

are informs everything we do ndash who we hire what we observe where

we live how we communicate ndash and it can be tough to know where to

focus when checking our own potential biases However starting with a

deep reflection of your hiring process is a way to take ownership of your

responsibility as a business leader to prioritize DEampI Your commitment

may not produce immediate results since company demographics

arenrsquot something that can change overnight but your efforts will drive

meaningful and positive change in the long run with respect to who you

hire and advocate for in your company

Own your influence As a leader you have the ability to influence others through your words

and actions Consider the ways you can demonstrate your commitment

to DEampI Here are some ideas to get you started

bull Sponsor an employee resource group and commit to helping

them achieve their goals

bull Attend diversity sourcing events and invite coworkers to join you

bull Refer candidates from overlookedunderrepresented groups to

open roles throughout your organization

bull Look for local organizations you can partner with ndash perhaps

you can sponsor a hackathon offer an internship or otherwise

support their mission

bull Ask for feedback and suggestions ndash your team might already

have some great ideas about how to prioritize DEampI

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 28

Part 5 For everyone

Creating an inclusive candidate experience to build stronger more diverse teamsEvery person in your company ndash regardless of their job title ndash can

contribute to inclusive hiring Whether theyrsquore making referrals

interviewing candidates or talking to prospects their actions can

have an impact on candidate experience Thatrsquos why itrsquos essential

to be intentional about the role everyone plays

Here are a few ways to create an inclusive candidate experience

Structured hiring

Structured hiring is an approach where selection decisions are

based on evidence not emotion Leaders align the role to a business

objective and build a rigorous and objective interview process

through conversations assignments and the like that can be used to

predict job performance Candidates are asked consistent questions

that connect back to specific attributes required for the role and

interviewers evaluate responses against a defined rating system in

the interview scorecard

In previous sections we covered how hiring managers and recruiters

can partner to implement structured hiring Remember that rolling

it out to your entire company will take time and effort Everyone

involved in the interview process will need to be trained on things

like how to conduct interviews take notes and score candidates

Consider integrating this training into new hire onboarding team

offsites or manager professional development to ensure everyone

stays up to date

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 29

Defining and hiring for culture add

Over the past several years wersquove seen companies move away

from assessing candidates on their ldquoculture fitrdquo because this term

can lead to homogeneous hiring But many companies still want

a way to determine whether candidates are aligned with their values

This is where ldquoculture addrdquo or values interviews can come into play

Culture-add interviews also give candidates the chance to meet

people from other teams and departments to get a broader sense of

your company culture

If culture-add interviews are part of your hiring process (or you want

them to be) yoursquoll want to consider the following

bull Who conducts culture-add interviews What is the selection

process like for identifying these interviewers within your

company and training them

bull Which questions does the culture-add interview cover How do

you define great acceptable and unacceptable answers

bull How often will you revisit and update this process

Hiring Maturity success story Neil Casey ThoughtWorks

In this limited podcast

series Greenhouse

President and Co-

founder Jon Stross sat

down with talent leaders

from leading companies

to discuss their Hiring

Maturity journeys Listen

in as Jon invites Neil

Casey Global Head of

Sourcing and Strategic

Hiring at ThoughtWorks

to discuss building an

inclusive hiring process

at scale

Explore the Greenhouse DEampI feature set

Take structured interviewing to the next level with solutions that enable

recruiters interviewers and hiring managers to operationalize and

scale fairer hiring practices Herersquos a brief overview of the Greenhouse

DEampI feature set

Data collection and reporting ndash Track self-reported applicant

demographic data throughout the hiring funnel (from sourcing

to offer) and measure pass-throughdrop-off rates

In-the-moment interventions ndash Reminders that nudge users to

slow down and avoid instinctive mental shortcuts that arenrsquot

rooted in evidence or tied to job-relevant criteria

Structured decision-making ndash Added guardrails that support

a more objective selection process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 30

Encouraging an inclusive approach to employee referrals

Employee referrals are a great way to get everyone involved in the

hiring process Itrsquos exciting to have a hand in shaping the future of your

company while helping someone in your network land their next role

But certain groups tend to benefit from referrals more than others

which can lead to more homogeneity

The good news is that referrals donrsquot automatically lead to

homogeneous hires according to research by DEampI consultancy

Paradigm They partnered with Pinterest to determine why employee

referrals tend to be homogenous Is it because peoplersquos networks

are truly that homogenous or is it due to pattern-matching bias

(employees are looking around at their coworkers and only thinking

of people who are similar to the existing team) Paradigm found that

when a leader asked employees to be more mindful about diversity

when offering referrals especially people of color and women it made

a tangible impact over the following six weeks So be sure to encourage

employees to consider diversity when making referrals

DonorsChoose takes a data-driven approach to DEampI in their hiring

DonorsChoosersquos challenge Develop a hiring process that aligns with

the organizationrsquos commitment to DEampI in their work in education

DonorsChoose has a high standard for their DEampI hiring efforts and

wanted to intentionally drive a more diverse candidate pool To do so

they had to prioritize gathering better data on diversity in their hiring

pools Without that data conversations between the People and Talent

team and hiring managers felt uninformed and ineffective

DonorsChoose wanted data at their fingertips to drive their DEampI

hiring efforts The Greenhouse DEampI feature set offered them a robust

set of tools Since turning on custom demographic reporting the

DonorsChoose team has seen an improvement and recognized that

now 58 of the candidates who have made it to the face-to-face

interview stage at DonorsChoose have identified as people of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 31

ConclusionWe recommend sitting with these strategies for a few days rather than

immediately jumping into action Take time to reflect on your next

steps and collaborate with your internal partners in order to create the

optimal DEampI hiring strategy for your company

Remember that when it comes to DEampI therersquos no ldquoend staterdquo to arrive

at Wersquore all on the same journey of curiosity listening progress and

discovery

If yoursquod like to do further reading or research on any of the topics we

covered wersquove curated a list of recommended reading for you

We are your partners and allies and stand beside you in this work and

will help you as best we can All of us at Greenhouse are committed to

bringing about lasting change and we will be your partner in creating

a more equitable hiring process so you can build more inclusive

stronger teams

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 32

Recommended reading

DEampI strategy Creating an Effective Diversity and Inclusion

Program

DEampI strategy Hiring Diverse Candidates is Not Enough ndash

Itrsquos About Keeping Them

DEampI strategy Toward a Racially Just Workplace

DEampI strategy Why So Many Organizations Stay White

DEampI strategy Do Your DampI Efforts Include People with

Disabilities

Hiring If Therersquos Only One Woman in Your Candidate

Pool Therersquos Statisically No Chance Shersquoll Be

Hired

Hiring A Data-Driven Approach to Hiring More

Diverse Talent

Hiring How to Alter Your Hiring Practices to Increase

Diversity

Hiring Research How Speech Patterns Lead to

Hiring Bias

Intersectionality Do Your Diversity Efforts Reflect the

Experiences of Women of Color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 33

Recommended reading (continued)

Sourcing Could This Be The Secret To Hiring More

Women And People Of Color

Sourcing Diversity Sourcing Strategy 3 LinkedIn

Search Tips from Boolean Master Glen

Cathey

Sourcing How to increase workplace diversity with

employee referrals

Unconscious bias Managing Unconscious Bias Strategies to

Manage Bias amp Build More Diverse Inclusive

Organizations

Unconscious bias 50 Ways to Fight Bias

Unconscious bias 12 Unconscious Bias Examples and How to

Avoid Them in the Workplace

Unconscious bias Harvard Project Implicit Association Tests

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 34

Greenhouse is the hiring software company

We help businesses be great at hiring through

our powerful hiring approach complete suite of

software and services and large partner ecosystem ndash

so businesses can hire for whatrsquos next

To learn more visit

greenhouseio

Page 3: eBook Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company

IntroductionThe role of diversity equity and inclusion (DEampI) in talent strategy has

never been more important The way your team attracts recruits and

hires a diverse candidate set can boost your competitive advantage

and solidify your identity as a great employer Candidates are now

taking a closer look at companiesrsquo composition and commitment to

DEampI when evaluating offers ndash 86 of job seekers say a companyrsquos

diversity is an important factor

But who is responsible for building and maintaining inclusive

hiring practices Too often it is yet another responsibility added to

recruitersrsquo already lengthy to-do lists Like any strategic initiative

prioritizing DEampI should be a shared responsibility and not left solely

to a single team to drive Thatrsquos why wersquore sharing these inclusive

hiring strategies that support everyone at your company including

your recruiters hiring managers and business leaders Everyone from

your executives to the people on your hiring panels have a part to play

and a responsibility to be as inclusive as possible

33

While there are no shortcuts on the journey of embracing and

operationalizing DEampI we hope these strategies will be your compass

and companion as you catalyze your work in this area Recruiting

interviewing and selecting talent with an equity and inclusion lens will

distinguish your company as an employer of choice for talent that will

come from increasingly diverse backgrounds in the years to come

Our goal with this eBook is to provide actionable advice and solid

strategies for people in every department and role We invite you to

start with Part 1 for some self-reflection to see where you are today

Next you can choose the sections that are most relevant to you and

dive in Herersquos a quick overview

bull For hiring managers and interviewers Strengthening

interviewing skills and questions

bull For recruiting teams Recognizing and addressing biased

behaviors in hiring

bull For business leaders Prioritizing DEampI

bull For everyone Creating an inclusive candidate experience to

build stronger more diverse teams

Of course feel free to read the entire eBook if yoursquod like to get

the big picture of promoting DEampI throughout your organization

Letrsquos get started

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 4

Part 1 Getting started

Take a self-assessment of your current stateBefore jumping into specific tactics we encourage you to work through

this self-assessment

Letrsquos start with a hypothetical scenario focused on inclusion Imagine

you are the hiring manager tasked with hiring a head of diversity for

your company A finalist candidate asks you the following questions

How would you answer And how would you rate yourself and your

process on based on those answers

Remember the point of this exercise is to be honest with yourself and

accurately describe where you are today

Questions Scorecard rating

Do you actively evaluate your hiring process

to compare your inbound (direct applicants)

and outbound (sourced passive candidates

referrals) talent

Give a 1ndash2 sentence definition of ldquoculture

fitrdquo and examples of how it shows up at your

company If your company indexes hiring

decisions against this definition do you

educate hiring teams (with examples) so that

everyone is aligned on what a ldquomisfitrdquo is

If so how often If not why not

How well does the team assess the predictive

validity (how candidates perform once they

join your company) of your interview process

How does your team incorporate data or

feedback from people managers to test how

interview methods (questions assessments)

correlate with performance and how do you

use that data to refine the process

Scorecard ratings key

Strong no

No

Mixed

Yes

Strong yes

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 5

How much of a premium do recruiters at your

company place on recruiting talent from your

industry How might the lack of diversity in

your industry reduce the chances of building a

diverse pool

What does interviewer education look like at

your company right now Which components

are included What criteria must employees

meet to become eligible to interview

How does your company define and measure

interviewer effectiveness If an employee is

not meeting expectations what remediation

or learning opportunities does your team offer

to improve their skills in hiring

Which hiring source (referrals your career

page LinkedIn etc) has the highest yield

conversion of candidates you hire With

that source how does your recruiting team

integrate targeted marketing to communities

that are underrepresented in your company

How does your recruiting team engage with

employee attritionfirst-year churn data How

have you used it to refine your hiring (and

onboarding if your team owns it) process Do

you segment that data by demographic (race

gender etc) and if so how does that impact

your recruitment marketing or sourcing

strategy

How does your recruiting team determine

articulate and differentiate minimum and

preferred qualifications in your job posts

What did you learn from going through this exercise Does anything

jump out as a particular strength or area for improvement Use your

answers to launch conversations with others in your company who are

committed to DEampI

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 6

Part 2 For hiring managers and interviewers

Strengthening interviewing skills and questions Hiring managers play a critical role in recruiting Not only do you make

the final call about who gets hired but you also shape the approach to

interviewing and guide your team through the evaluation process

Have you ever received unclear or insufficient feedback from

interviewers Or feedback that wasnrsquot aligned with your expectations of

the interview focus

Using consistent questions and evaluation criteria significantly reduces

the likelihood that your interviewers will rely on snap decisions when

interviewing candidates This structured approach to hiring helps you

make more informed decisions about your next hire

We suggest the following approach

Step 1 Select the focus attributes yoursquod like

interviewers to assess

Step 2 Write custom questions that test for each

focus attribute

Step 3 Create rubrics for your interviewers to measure

the quality of a candidatersquos responses relative to

the scorecard

Step 4 Train your interviewers on taking notes that are

rooted in evidence not inference

Now letrsquos go through each of these steps with some examples to get

you started

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 7

Select the focus attributes yoursquod like interviewers to assess

What are the skills and qualities a candidate will need to be successful

in this role If itrsquos an existing role you may already have a clear idea If

itrsquos a new role you might need to start with your best guess based on

the responsibilities the role entails and refine it over time In either case

spend some time talking to members of your team your recruiting

partner and other company leaders to pinpoint the required skills

As a rule of thumb we recommend coming up with three to six

attributes per specific category such as cross-functional collaboration

people management and technical ability The SMART framework

(Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-based) is useful for

keeping interviewers on track

Step 2

Write custom questions that test for each focus attribute

Once you have your list of focus attributes yoursquoll want to write

questions that help interviewers test for those qualities

Pro tip

Instead of opting for

generic attributes

like ldquoorganizational

skillsrdquo consider more

targeted descriptions

like ldquomanaging multiple

prioritiesrdquo that clarify the

specific competency a

candidate would need to

be effective in the role

3Ps of interviewing We created the Purpose Process and People model to help categorize

interview questions into three tiers

Purpose questions help you identify what motivates a candidate

and assess alignment with your team andor companyrsquos values

Process questions help you measure how a candidate solves

problems thinks creatively and manages projects and deadlines

People questions help you determine how a candidate

would interact with others in your organization and how they

demonstrate emotional intelligence in the workplace

Step 1

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 8

How do you translate focus attributes into interview questions Look

for ways to dig in and get detailed information based on specific

situations

Here are a few examples to get the ball rolling We chose one attribute

for each of the 3 Ps learning and continuous improvement for Purpose

managing multiple priorities for Process and collaboration for People

with a set of sample questions for each attribute

Purpose ndash Identifying what motivates a candidate

Attribute Sample questions

Learning and continuous improvement

Name three things yoursquove done in the last few years to grow in your career

Describe a time when you proactively sought out feedback to improve your productivity or effectiveness in a role

bull What led you to seek that feedback

bull How did you determine the appropriate individuals to ask

bull How did you apply the feedback you received

bull How do you keep those learnings in mind in how you work today

Discuss an example of feedback you received that you did not agree with

bull What was the feedback

bull Why did you disagree

bull How did you communicate with the person that shared it with you

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 9

Process ndash Measuring how a candidate gets things done

Attribute Sample questions

Managing multiple priorities

Describe a time when you needed to delegate a project or task to someone on your team who you did not trust in order to prioritize something else on your list

bull What was the deliverable and why did you need to delegate it

bull What made you skeptical about this personrsquos ability to execute

bull How did you navigate the tradeoff between delegating and completing it on your own

Give me an example of a time when you needed to manage up because your workload had become unreasonable

bull What circumstances led to this

bull How did you negotiate which deliverables needed to be prioritized or shared with someone else

bull Did you encounter any pushback If so how did you manage it

Tell me about a time when you were trying to meet a deadline but were interrupted and did not make the deadline

bull How did you respond

People ndash Determining how a candidate interacts with others

Attribute Sample questions

Collaboration Describe a situation where you and your manager (or another leader at your company) disagreed on the approach to take on a project or deliverable

bull How did you evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of both approaches How did you know yours was the better option

bull How did you communicate your position to your manager How did they respond bull What was the outcome

Tell me about a time when you worked on a project and a peer was not meeting expectations What actions did you take

bull How did you balance the tradeoff between holding the person accountable and completing the work yourself

Share an example of a time when your emotional intelligence helped you in collaborating with someone who had a completely different communication style

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 10

Step 3

Create rubrics for your interviewers to measure the quality of a candidatersquos responses relative to the scorecard

Now that you have your focus attributes and interview questions

ready itrsquos time to consider how yoursquod like interviewers to score their

responses

This is the rating system we use at Greenhouse ndash feel free to make

changes or use it as is

We recommend creating rubrics for interviewers so they know how to

assess responses for every question they ask during the interview

Strong no No Mixed Yes Strong yes

1111

Herersquos an example rubric for assessing responses to ldquoTell me about

a time when you were communicating with someone and they didnrsquot

understand you What did you dordquo

Strong no No Mixed Yes Strong yes

Provides an unclear

description of

the relationship

dynamiccontext and

struggles to outline

their summary of

the situation to the

interviewer

Offers an indistinct

summary of the

intended message and

does not acknowledge

any unique relationship

dynamicsadded

context that may

have contributed to

the communication

breakdown

Does not take

accountability for

their role in the

communication

breakdown (for

example ldquoI donrsquot

see why they didnrsquot

understandrdquo) and has

not demonstrated how

they learned from this

situation for future

conversations with the

person or others in the

workplace

Offers a vague

depiction of the

situation (the message

they were looking to

convey the relationship

with the other person

and where the

miscommunication

occurred)

Provides a loose

outline of the steps

taken to identify a

plan to remedy the

communication

breakdown OR a

cursory summary of

what they learned from

the experience

Demonstrates empathy

for the other person

but does not leverage

it in articulating

their strategy

for revising their

approach for follow-up

conversations

Clearly defines the

intended vision of

the message for the

other person and

discusses wherehow

the message was lost in

translation

Acknowledges any

unique or relevant

relationship dynamics

that might have

contributed to the

message not being

clearly interpreted

Demonstrates empathy

in identifying the source

of the communication

breakdown and holds

self accountable

for identifying an

alternative way to

communicate with the

person

Clarifies any

subsequent steps

in preserving and

or growing the

relationship with

the person and

added measures

taken in adjusting

communication

(delivery style

approach) for other

conversations

Clearly defines the

intended vision of

the message for the

other person and

discusses wherehow

the message was lost in

translation

Acknowledges any

unique or relevant

relationship dynamics

that might have

contributed to the

message not being

clearly interpreted

Demonstrates empathy

in identifying the source

of the communication

breakdown and holds

self accountable

for identifying an

alternative way to

communicate with the

person

Clarifies any

subsequent steps

in preserving and

or growing the

relationship with

the person and

added measures

taken in adjusting

communication

(delivery style

approach) for other

conversations

Considers the

experience a learning

opportunity to iterate

and situate their

communication style to

match the expectations

of the audience

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 12

Step 4

Train your interviewers on taking notes that are rooted in evidence not inference

Finally yoursquoll need to hold interviewers accountable for capturing

detailed objective notes from every interview

Itrsquos important to note that without coaching interviewers probably

wonrsquot know how to do this You can help them by providing detailed

examples of what yoursquore looking for

Here are some sample scorecard notes

Rating Notes

Strong yes Lucia discussed her experience in her current role as Director of People where she is currently

responsible for recruitinghiring (8 roles to be filled within the next 2 months in their DC Ohio and

Atlanta markets) coordinating logistics (flights lodging meals programming) for an upcoming

national new hire orientation (15 attendees) and planning for the company-wide (150 ppl)

offsite retreat For hiring she mentioned how she schedules phone screens at various intervals

throughout the day and commits to taking notes on the call and scheduling next-round interviews

with hiring managers Structures days around certain ldquowork blocksrdquo where she knows what needs

to get done and will communicate if things are either taking longer than expected or if there are

roadblocks and collaborates as needed to find solutions Mentioned that she is a huge fan of

automation (Google Calendarrsquos DNS blocks) and keeps a scrolling list of to-do items Shared that

strong relationships with hiring managers made things a lot easier with schedulingprocess and

that the orientation went off without a hitch Team retreat was a multi-month effort and the team

enjoyed the experience more than the previous year both programmatically and logistically

Yes Joseacute shared about working as a Program Manager with a youth-development nonprofit and how

they were tapped to work on special projects from the Chief Program Officer on top of navigating

a complex situation with their school partner and how theyrsquove been ldquogetting their feet wetrdquo by

working with the development team on an upcoming funding proposal Their answers lacked

some detail (didnrsquot provide a backstory about the relationship with the school partner ldquothings

have always been tense but Irsquove been trying to remain positiverdquo) but were overall solid in how

theyrsquod tried to use time-tracking software to set alarms for when it was time to pivot and focus on

a different task They did mention that the team was short-staffed and that was why they decided

to step up and take on more responsibility even though they knew it would require additional work

on their end and being more organized Talked about how they have regular syncs with the CPO

to offer updates on their progress Also set up a weekly 2-hour block to work onedit the funding

proposal as theyrsquore interested in ldquodeveloping musclerdquo in fundraising

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 13

Mixed I gave Janet a ldquomixedrdquo here because I wasnrsquot convinced that her approach toward balancing

multiple projects was actually impactful or effective despite her laying out all the different steps

she took We talked about her experience as a second-year teacher (at a brand-new school)

juggling making parent calls grading lesson planning and her responsibilities as a self-appointed

sponsor for the schoolrsquos LGBTQ+ student association She talked about how she was able to use a

calendar and alerts in her phone but when probed admitted to having dropped a lot of balls with

grading student assignments since she was more focused on lesson planning and being present

for the student group Admitted that she could have done a much better job with balancing her

schedule and being more realistic with her bandwidth but also shared that she got feedback

from her Assistant Principal that she may need to scale back with the student group Again shersquos

capable of being proactive with taking on a lot but I donrsquot think I have enough evidence to say yes

or no on her ability to manage it all effectively and course correct as needed

No Morris shared an example of a time when as an Account Manager he had to navigate renewal

conversations with three different customers but spent the majority of the time discussing how

he wasnrsquot able to secure two of the renewals after focusing too heavily on one customer I probed

to learn more about his approachtechnique and he said that ldquoeverything was urgent so I didnrsquot

really have an opportunity to prioritize as much as I could haverdquo I probed more and learned that he

hadnrsquot responded to key emails from his customers and had assumed that since theyrsquod renewed

in the previous year that they would do so again Did admit to learning from the experience but Irsquom

not convinced that this example showcased his ability to do so with ease

Strong no Damon struggled to give a clear response but from what I could glean he has had a difficult

relationship with several hiring managers (HMs) in his most recent role as a full-cycle recruiter and

would often drop balls (forgetting to add notes double scheduling phone screens and not turning

around job posts quickly enough to match manager expectations) He mentioned one scenario

where he had challenges working with one HM and blamed them for the issue When I probed I

learned that Damon had neglected to ask about the candidatersquos salary requirements placing the

HM in a tough situation where they had to communicate that the candidatersquos expectations were

20 higher than the budgeted amount Damon attributed the breakdown as an ldquooversightrdquo and

shared that James (the HM) was ldquonot very likeable according to other recruiters that worked with

him beforerdquo and that he ldquoknew it would be an issuerdquo working with him on this new req

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 14

Sharing examples like these will help your team know what yoursquore

looking for Review interviewersrsquo feedback regularly Ask probing

questions about any comments that are vague or excessively

inferential Encourage them to anchor their decisions in the key

takeaways of your interview rubric

While the steps outlined above might be a pretty significant shift from

the way your team has been approaching interviewing making these

changes to your interview process can help mitigate bias and open the

door to qualified candidates from a broader range of backgrounds

Remember that you donrsquot have to do this all on your own ndash your

recruiters are your partners throughout this process Be sure to seek

their advice and input on attributes interview questions decision-

making criteria and any other area where you need a little extra

support

Pro tip

Encourage interviewers

to structure their

conversations with brief

intros (the longer the

intro the greater the

odds that an interviewer

will base their decision

on likability rather than

merit) Explain to your

team that they are

evaluating candidates

based on what they

can contribute not

popularity

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 15

Part 3 For recruiting teams

Recognizing and addressing biased behaviors in hiringAs a recruiter yoursquore responsible for the tools and processes that

shape hiring in your organization And when your company commits

to inclusive hiring a hefty portion of the responsibility will also fall on

your plate

Promoting inclusion often begins by looking at your hiring process

and putting systems in place to mitigate bias When you limit the role

bias plays in decision-making you can open the door to candidates

from traditionally underrepresented groups

In this section wersquoll offer a broad overview of how to recognize and

address bias in hiring

Recognizing biased behaviors in hiring

How can recruiters help their organizations mitigate bias in the hiring

process You can start by understanding when and where bias is likely

to pop up Wersquove summarized some of the research and collected a few

resources to help you begin your exploration of this topic

As you read through the points on the next page do any problematic

aspects of your existing process surface If so make a note to dive

deeper into those topics Wersquoll share some ideas in the next few

sections to give you a jumping-off point

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 16

bull Jargon and superficial language in job posts can

discourage women from applying and perpetuate inequality

bull Over-indexing on referrals from a homogenous workforce

(typically with less-diverse networks) can close the door for

people of color and women

bull Measuring talent through academic or employer history (both

have low predictive validity on job performance) limits access

for candidates excluded from those networks

bull People of color and women are more likely to receive offers if

another finalist shares their identity

bull Low-diversity interview teams may signal larger issues for

candidates from underrepresented groups

bull Resumes with more ldquowhite-soundingrdquo names are more likely to

be advanced in the hiring process

bull Candidates are often evaluated on their perceived ease in

assimilating or fitting into the culture rather than their capacity

to perform in the role and add to the companyrsquos culture

bull Traditional unstructured interviews are highly vulnerable to

bias ndash without consistent criteria or rubrics poorly trained

interviewers make impulse-driven decisions when evaluating

candidates

bull Interview notes are often scant high-inference or based on

likability rather than objective with examples that validate

advancement or rejection

bull Gender pay gaps persist in part because women fear reprisal for

initiating salary negotiation (from other women and men) and

compensation disparities are even wider for women of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 17

Addressing biased behaviors

Bias is a mental algorithm that can be disrupted through conscious

behavior change Effective and inclusive hiring isnrsquot so much a skill as

it is a collection of habits that can enable more inclusive outcomes and

change company cultures

Here are some practical steps you can take and tools to try out based

on the observations you noted earlier Wersquove divided these tips by

pipeline stage (sourcing screening selecting and hiring)

Sourcing

bull Clarify the attributes yoursquore looking for (capabilities performance

objectives etc) during your kickoff meeting using a structured

hiring template

bull Consider partnering with text-augmenting software like Textio

TapRecruit or Gender Decoder to expose and change the words

that may disrupt diversity at the top of your funnel

bull Solicit referrals for underrepresented talent (with added financial

incentive if possible) as an important DEampI initiative that can

also lead to greater retention and lower reports of workplace

inequity

bull The recruiting platform Gem recommends using diversity salient

strategies like targeting talent from bootcamps or affinity-based

organizations like TransTech Social and the National Society of

Black Engineers

bull Audit your job posts to determine which requirements are

essential and which are extraneous remove jargon and focus on

producing (and disseminating) content that appeals to the widest

net possible

bull Use Boolean searches in LinkedIn to find overlooked talent

by searching for alumni of colleges with high diversity indices

or affinity-based organizations like fraternities sororities and

cultural interest groups

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 18

A simple structured hiring template

Want to add more structure

to your hiring process

Here are a few questions

and points to consider next

time you open a new role

Who are you trying to hire

bull Role name

bull Department

bull Who will this person report to

bull What business objectives are you trying to meet with this role

How will you evaluate the candidate

bull Skills

bull Personality traits

bull Qualifications

What will the interview process look like

bull Define the interview stages (application review phone screen

hiring manager interview etc)

bull Decide which qualities will be assessed in each stage

bull Plan out the questions or assessments for each quality

Screening

bull Based on your structured hiring template design an effective

scorecard and create clear evaluation criteria that your

interviewers can discuss in their roundups to make informed

objective decisions when assessing candidates (see page 21 for

a quick introduction to scorecards)

bull Ensure your focus attributes are specific measurable attainable

and relevant to the role(s) yoursquore recruiting for

bull Consider integrating your companyrsquos performance management

competencies (if possible) when determining focus attributes if

you have difficulty developing new ones

bull Using the performance outcomes for the role develop a bank

of behavioral and situational interview questions that match the

complexity of the role

bull Define the range of answers for your questions from exemplary

to unacceptable and train your interviewers on how to document

their feedback in the scorecard

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 19

bull Mitigate opportunities for late-stage interviewers to be

influencedbiased by previously submitted scorecards

bull Train members of employee resource groups (ERGs) to

participate as interviewers to ensure a balance of perspectives

bull Evaluate whether leveraging skills-based hiring makes sense for

your company

bull Work samples or assessments have the highest predictive

validity for job performance and grading them anonymously can

help mitigate bias

Selecting

bull Assessments like Predictive Index can help you identify

candidates who can balance out your team

bull Establish clear consistent candidate evaluation criteria for your

interviewers to adhere to as a part of a structured hiring process

bull Train your interviewers with proper interview prep material use

focus attributes to eliminate redundancy and require detailed

low-inference and objective interview notes for every attribute

assessed

bull Review all interview feedback ask probing questions about

vague or inferential comments and encourage interviewers to

anchor their decisions in the key takeaways of your interview

rubric

Hiring

bull Audit your compensation structure to ensure that salaries are at

market rate and determine your thresholds for salary negotiation

regardless of the candidate

bull Be transparent about your compensation philosophy and

consider not allowing anyone to negotiate compensation to

drive pay equity

bull Review comments from candidate surveys to measure candidate

experience and leverage the data to make iterations where

necessary throughout your process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 20

Creating attributes

Aim for at least 3ndash6 mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive

focus attributes per category for your scorecards Consider integrating

the SMART (Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-based)

framework to ensure your interviewers are enabled to measure what

matters

Building interview questions

Collaborate with hiring managers to design custom interview questions

for each attribute deemed necessary for success in the role Aligning

these questions to your scorecard focus attributes enables your

interviewers to make informed decisions that can more accurately

predict job performance

Establishing a decision-making framework

After developing your focus attributes and interview questions be sure

to define evaluation expectations for interview teams Ideally each

attribute-aligned question will include a specific rubric that outlines what

interviewers should look for in candidate answers and assessments

You can adapt this scorecard rating system to suit your company

Scorecard essentials for everyone

Scorecards are

fundamental to structured

hiring Consistent

candidate evaluation helps

mitigate interviewer bias

reduce total interview time

and drive a more evidence-

based decision framework

for selecting the right

talent

Herersquos a high-level

overview of scorecard

essentials

Strong yes is an exemplary response that clearly addresses each

element of the question with distinct examples (if appropriate)

Yes is a solid acceptable response that addresses most or all elements

of the question with clear examples

Mixed is an inconclusive response that may partially address the

question but does not provide the interviewer with evidence about the

candidatersquos capabilities A mixed rating does not equate to ldquoI donrsquot

knowrdquo ndash when an interviewer doesnrsquot have enough evidence they

should leave the attribute blank

No is an unacceptable response that ignores most or multiple

elements of the question

Strong no is an extremely unacceptable answer that doesnrsquot address

the question at all andor contains a comment that conflicts with your

companyrsquos culture Beyond that answers may blatantly disparage

others former employers communities etc

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 21

Part 4 For business leaders

Prioritizing DEampIForward-thinking business leaders (like you) are actively focused on

elevating their DEampI practices ndash not only to ensure that their teams

accurately reflect the demographics of their local population but also

to create a work environment that offers equitable opportunities where

people of all identities can thrive

Traditionally business leaders have looked to recruiting teams to

shoulder the work of diversifying the candidates moving through their

hiring pipelines However great business leaders understand that DEampI

is a company-wide commitment starting from the top ndash at Greenhouse

we call this the Talent Maker mindset

In a world where 57 of employees believe their companies should

improve diversity among their internal workforce and 86 of job

seekers actively seek out companies with diverse employee bases

proactively building inclusive hiring practices to allow for a better

diversity of hires isnrsquot just the right thing to do ndash itrsquos the smart thing

to do

McKinsey found that companies in the top quartile for racialethnic and

gender diversity were respectively 35 and 15 more likely to have

financial returns above the national median for their particular industry

That means being great at hiring today is about a lot more than how

quickly you make a hire Itrsquos also about exercising inclusive hiring

practices and having diversity on both sides of the interview process

among your interviewers and your candidates Itrsquos about business

leaders getting involved with DEampI to generate meaningful outcomes

No matter how valiantly a recruiter works to fill the top of a recruiting

funnel with underrepresented candidates if hiring managers donrsquot

similarly prioritize inclusive hiring those candidates will inevitably

leave the funnel ndash whether by choice or through the adverse impact of

unconscious bias

Letrsquos explore some of the ways that Talent Makers can boost DEampI in

their hiring strategies

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 22

Before focusing externally look internally at your own company

Diversifying your team isnrsquot only about bringing in a new hire who can

add a new perspective Itrsquos just as much about creating an environment

that allows that new hire to share their perspective and feel heard

Some leaders may skirt conversations around identity ndash by claiming to

be ldquocolorblindrdquo when it comes to race for example ndash but great leaders

lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each

employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

Ask questions

What does all this mean through the lens of hiring As you start

thinking about how to source underrepresented candidates answer

these questions

bull Why would a candidate from an underrepresented group want to

join your team

bull How would you articulate your commitment to supporting and

advocating for them as a manager

bull If you were releasing a public statement or articulating your

companyrsquos commitment to equity in response toin solidarity

with a societal movement how would you differentiate your

company from other organizations in a way thatrsquos authentic

bull More importantly how will you hold yourself accountable over

time for driving the changes you want to see

Next take a hard look at the demographics of your team Determine

the following

bull Which demographic groups ndash including but not limited to

gender raceethnicity sexual orientation industry experience

seniority education socioeconomic status and ability status ndash

are represented

bull Which groups are you lacking or are underrepresented

bull Look for patterns in the profiles of the people yoursquove hired up to

now ndash do they imply an inclination toward a certain personality

type background set of qualifications or even raceethnicity

bull If so how are you justifying that

Great leaders lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 23

bull Could you inadvertently be screening for privilege (think

preferred schools or degrees) rather than for ability and

potential

Have the conversation

Itrsquos time to invite your team into the conversation This can be the

uncomfortable part especially if yoursquore in an environment that

doesnrsquot have a precedent for such dialogues Actively sharing why

yoursquore prioritizing DEampI will signal its importance to your team help

address any discrepancies and start building the muscle for healthy

conversations on topics like race Yoursquoll also drive new awareness

and behaviors that can have outsized impacts on who you hire by

influencing your interview panels to be more open-minded and provide

better interviewing experiences to underrepresented candidates

Finally collaborate with your people operations or HR team to review

current department demographics based on self-reported employee

data This will lead to informed discussions about which groups to

focus on when diversifying hiring pipelines which ties back to your

goals around having better representation among your employees

Write your job descriptionsjob posts through an inclusive lens

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader

is a job description for a role on your team Itrsquos the first touchpoint

candidates have with your team and it directly impacts who does ndash

and doesnrsquot ndash engage in your interview process

Here are tips on how to make your job descriptions more inclusive ndash

and more attractive to the candidates yoursquore targeting

Identify and rework inherently biased language

Countless job descriptions contain language that is gendered which

can skew your talent pool before you even interact with candidates

Platforms like Textio leverage artificial intelligence to help remove

gender bias business jargon and other phrases that reinforce

stereotypes in written content

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader is a job description for a role on your team

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 24

Describe goals and growth opportunities

Focus on describing the exciting goals and clear objectives of the

job rather than listing day-to-day responsibilities that arenrsquot tied to

outcomes This will not only inspire candidates it will also help them

decide if what theyrsquoll own and learn in your job is aligned with their

career goals

Examples of unintentionally biased language

Masculine-tone

Exhaustive

Enforcement

Fearless

Feminine-tone

Transparent

Catalyst

In touch with

Textio writes ldquoA language pattern is considered gendered if it

statistically changes the proportion of men and women who respond

to a job post containing itrdquo Their research reveals that in jobs where

a man is hired the original job post averages almost twice as many

masculine-tone phrases as feminine In jobs where a woman is hired

Textio finds the exact opposite there are twice as many feminine-tone

phrases as masculine in the job post Here are a few common phrases

that exert this type of bias effect

bull What are the goals and outcomes you want this person to achieve

bull What are the success metrics being tracked and the desired outcomes

bull What does growth look like on your team when someone delivers

quarter over quarter

bull Who will this person be actively collaborating with

Questions to answer in your job description

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 25

Focus on skills over requirements

Carefully consider each requirement yoursquore adding to your job

description Can you shift your focus away from a specific number

of years of work experience or required degrees and move toward

a candidatersquos abilities Could you take it a step further and include

verbiage that encourages candidates to apply even if they might not

have all the necessary qualifications

Get other opinions

Continue to iterate and socialize your job description Share it with

someone whorsquos currently in the role or someone who represents an

underrepresented demographic group to learn if there are better ways to

position the content Incorporating feedback from different perspectives

is key to eliminating unintentional biases in the language

Use structured hiring to mitigate unconscious bias

Now that yoursquove communicated your focus on diversity and published

an inclusive job description you might think most of your work is

behind you After all isnrsquot the process mostly in your recruiterrsquos hands

from here Not just yet Once you have candidates entering your hiring

pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices

will really be put to the test

Consider adding an inclusivity statement

Is your job description unintentionally scaring candidates away

Research shows that women tend to only apply for jobs when they meet

100 of the requirements One way to encourage candidates from

diverse backgrounds to apply is by adding an inclusivity statement to

your list of qualifications Jobs are filled 6 faster when the description

includes an inclusion message or EEO statement Herersquos the Greenhouse

version (itrsquos the last item in the list of qualifications) ldquoYour own unique

talents If you donrsquot meet 100 of the qualifications outlined above tell

us why yoursquod be a great fit for this role in your cover letterrdquo

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 26

Here are a few important things to keep in mind to stay accountable to

your commitment to DEampI

Screen in over screening out

When reviewing resumes use the framework of screening in rather

than screening out While certain jobs will have hard requirements ndash an

engineer might need fluency in a certain coding language to perform in

their job ndash many employers are placing less emphasis on a strict set of

resume qualifications when determining who to move to the next stage

and thinking about how they can invest in training people who have

potential but donrsquot have specific qualifications

When conducting interviews many hiring managers get

understandably nervous when considering candidates from

backgrounds that are not currently represented on their team That

behavior is often grounded in similar-to-me bias and perpetuates

homogeneity Pay close attention to how you and your interviewers

react to historically underrepresented candidates and actively exercise

open-mindedness Your best hire may be the person who is different

from everyone else your team has hired in the past

Use the same criteria

To create an even playing field assess all candidates against the same

hiring criteria that yoursquove determined is necessary for the role which

is the core of structured hiring Similarly make sure each candidate is

answering the same interview questions from your interviewers This

allows your interviewers not only to focus on relevant areas to assess

but also to compare candidates in a data-driven and fair way in the

event yoursquore choosing between several finalists

Diversify your panel

Finally consider your interview panel Which demographic groups are

represented and which are not represented Do you have a panel of all

men Of all the same ethnicity or race Of all millennials If the answer

is yes to any of these scenarios how are you planning to address this

elephant in the room with candidates who identify differently Put

yourself in their shoes and be prepared to clearly explain why creating

a more diverse team is a priority for you

Once you have candidates entering your hiring pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices will really be put to the test

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 27

Measure wins by progress and improvements

If you donrsquot already have an extensive DEampI program at your

organization figuring out where to start can be challenging Who we

are informs everything we do ndash who we hire what we observe where

we live how we communicate ndash and it can be tough to know where to

focus when checking our own potential biases However starting with a

deep reflection of your hiring process is a way to take ownership of your

responsibility as a business leader to prioritize DEampI Your commitment

may not produce immediate results since company demographics

arenrsquot something that can change overnight but your efforts will drive

meaningful and positive change in the long run with respect to who you

hire and advocate for in your company

Own your influence As a leader you have the ability to influence others through your words

and actions Consider the ways you can demonstrate your commitment

to DEampI Here are some ideas to get you started

bull Sponsor an employee resource group and commit to helping

them achieve their goals

bull Attend diversity sourcing events and invite coworkers to join you

bull Refer candidates from overlookedunderrepresented groups to

open roles throughout your organization

bull Look for local organizations you can partner with ndash perhaps

you can sponsor a hackathon offer an internship or otherwise

support their mission

bull Ask for feedback and suggestions ndash your team might already

have some great ideas about how to prioritize DEampI

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 28

Part 5 For everyone

Creating an inclusive candidate experience to build stronger more diverse teamsEvery person in your company ndash regardless of their job title ndash can

contribute to inclusive hiring Whether theyrsquore making referrals

interviewing candidates or talking to prospects their actions can

have an impact on candidate experience Thatrsquos why itrsquos essential

to be intentional about the role everyone plays

Here are a few ways to create an inclusive candidate experience

Structured hiring

Structured hiring is an approach where selection decisions are

based on evidence not emotion Leaders align the role to a business

objective and build a rigorous and objective interview process

through conversations assignments and the like that can be used to

predict job performance Candidates are asked consistent questions

that connect back to specific attributes required for the role and

interviewers evaluate responses against a defined rating system in

the interview scorecard

In previous sections we covered how hiring managers and recruiters

can partner to implement structured hiring Remember that rolling

it out to your entire company will take time and effort Everyone

involved in the interview process will need to be trained on things

like how to conduct interviews take notes and score candidates

Consider integrating this training into new hire onboarding team

offsites or manager professional development to ensure everyone

stays up to date

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 29

Defining and hiring for culture add

Over the past several years wersquove seen companies move away

from assessing candidates on their ldquoculture fitrdquo because this term

can lead to homogeneous hiring But many companies still want

a way to determine whether candidates are aligned with their values

This is where ldquoculture addrdquo or values interviews can come into play

Culture-add interviews also give candidates the chance to meet

people from other teams and departments to get a broader sense of

your company culture

If culture-add interviews are part of your hiring process (or you want

them to be) yoursquoll want to consider the following

bull Who conducts culture-add interviews What is the selection

process like for identifying these interviewers within your

company and training them

bull Which questions does the culture-add interview cover How do

you define great acceptable and unacceptable answers

bull How often will you revisit and update this process

Hiring Maturity success story Neil Casey ThoughtWorks

In this limited podcast

series Greenhouse

President and Co-

founder Jon Stross sat

down with talent leaders

from leading companies

to discuss their Hiring

Maturity journeys Listen

in as Jon invites Neil

Casey Global Head of

Sourcing and Strategic

Hiring at ThoughtWorks

to discuss building an

inclusive hiring process

at scale

Explore the Greenhouse DEampI feature set

Take structured interviewing to the next level with solutions that enable

recruiters interviewers and hiring managers to operationalize and

scale fairer hiring practices Herersquos a brief overview of the Greenhouse

DEampI feature set

Data collection and reporting ndash Track self-reported applicant

demographic data throughout the hiring funnel (from sourcing

to offer) and measure pass-throughdrop-off rates

In-the-moment interventions ndash Reminders that nudge users to

slow down and avoid instinctive mental shortcuts that arenrsquot

rooted in evidence or tied to job-relevant criteria

Structured decision-making ndash Added guardrails that support

a more objective selection process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 30

Encouraging an inclusive approach to employee referrals

Employee referrals are a great way to get everyone involved in the

hiring process Itrsquos exciting to have a hand in shaping the future of your

company while helping someone in your network land their next role

But certain groups tend to benefit from referrals more than others

which can lead to more homogeneity

The good news is that referrals donrsquot automatically lead to

homogeneous hires according to research by DEampI consultancy

Paradigm They partnered with Pinterest to determine why employee

referrals tend to be homogenous Is it because peoplersquos networks

are truly that homogenous or is it due to pattern-matching bias

(employees are looking around at their coworkers and only thinking

of people who are similar to the existing team) Paradigm found that

when a leader asked employees to be more mindful about diversity

when offering referrals especially people of color and women it made

a tangible impact over the following six weeks So be sure to encourage

employees to consider diversity when making referrals

DonorsChoose takes a data-driven approach to DEampI in their hiring

DonorsChoosersquos challenge Develop a hiring process that aligns with

the organizationrsquos commitment to DEampI in their work in education

DonorsChoose has a high standard for their DEampI hiring efforts and

wanted to intentionally drive a more diverse candidate pool To do so

they had to prioritize gathering better data on diversity in their hiring

pools Without that data conversations between the People and Talent

team and hiring managers felt uninformed and ineffective

DonorsChoose wanted data at their fingertips to drive their DEampI

hiring efforts The Greenhouse DEampI feature set offered them a robust

set of tools Since turning on custom demographic reporting the

DonorsChoose team has seen an improvement and recognized that

now 58 of the candidates who have made it to the face-to-face

interview stage at DonorsChoose have identified as people of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 31

ConclusionWe recommend sitting with these strategies for a few days rather than

immediately jumping into action Take time to reflect on your next

steps and collaborate with your internal partners in order to create the

optimal DEampI hiring strategy for your company

Remember that when it comes to DEampI therersquos no ldquoend staterdquo to arrive

at Wersquore all on the same journey of curiosity listening progress and

discovery

If yoursquod like to do further reading or research on any of the topics we

covered wersquove curated a list of recommended reading for you

We are your partners and allies and stand beside you in this work and

will help you as best we can All of us at Greenhouse are committed to

bringing about lasting change and we will be your partner in creating

a more equitable hiring process so you can build more inclusive

stronger teams

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 32

Recommended reading

DEampI strategy Creating an Effective Diversity and Inclusion

Program

DEampI strategy Hiring Diverse Candidates is Not Enough ndash

Itrsquos About Keeping Them

DEampI strategy Toward a Racially Just Workplace

DEampI strategy Why So Many Organizations Stay White

DEampI strategy Do Your DampI Efforts Include People with

Disabilities

Hiring If Therersquos Only One Woman in Your Candidate

Pool Therersquos Statisically No Chance Shersquoll Be

Hired

Hiring A Data-Driven Approach to Hiring More

Diverse Talent

Hiring How to Alter Your Hiring Practices to Increase

Diversity

Hiring Research How Speech Patterns Lead to

Hiring Bias

Intersectionality Do Your Diversity Efforts Reflect the

Experiences of Women of Color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 33

Recommended reading (continued)

Sourcing Could This Be The Secret To Hiring More

Women And People Of Color

Sourcing Diversity Sourcing Strategy 3 LinkedIn

Search Tips from Boolean Master Glen

Cathey

Sourcing How to increase workplace diversity with

employee referrals

Unconscious bias Managing Unconscious Bias Strategies to

Manage Bias amp Build More Diverse Inclusive

Organizations

Unconscious bias 50 Ways to Fight Bias

Unconscious bias 12 Unconscious Bias Examples and How to

Avoid Them in the Workplace

Unconscious bias Harvard Project Implicit Association Tests

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 34

Greenhouse is the hiring software company

We help businesses be great at hiring through

our powerful hiring approach complete suite of

software and services and large partner ecosystem ndash

so businesses can hire for whatrsquos next

To learn more visit

greenhouseio

Page 4: eBook Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company

While there are no shortcuts on the journey of embracing and

operationalizing DEampI we hope these strategies will be your compass

and companion as you catalyze your work in this area Recruiting

interviewing and selecting talent with an equity and inclusion lens will

distinguish your company as an employer of choice for talent that will

come from increasingly diverse backgrounds in the years to come

Our goal with this eBook is to provide actionable advice and solid

strategies for people in every department and role We invite you to

start with Part 1 for some self-reflection to see where you are today

Next you can choose the sections that are most relevant to you and

dive in Herersquos a quick overview

bull For hiring managers and interviewers Strengthening

interviewing skills and questions

bull For recruiting teams Recognizing and addressing biased

behaviors in hiring

bull For business leaders Prioritizing DEampI

bull For everyone Creating an inclusive candidate experience to

build stronger more diverse teams

Of course feel free to read the entire eBook if yoursquod like to get

the big picture of promoting DEampI throughout your organization

Letrsquos get started

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 4

Part 1 Getting started

Take a self-assessment of your current stateBefore jumping into specific tactics we encourage you to work through

this self-assessment

Letrsquos start with a hypothetical scenario focused on inclusion Imagine

you are the hiring manager tasked with hiring a head of diversity for

your company A finalist candidate asks you the following questions

How would you answer And how would you rate yourself and your

process on based on those answers

Remember the point of this exercise is to be honest with yourself and

accurately describe where you are today

Questions Scorecard rating

Do you actively evaluate your hiring process

to compare your inbound (direct applicants)

and outbound (sourced passive candidates

referrals) talent

Give a 1ndash2 sentence definition of ldquoculture

fitrdquo and examples of how it shows up at your

company If your company indexes hiring

decisions against this definition do you

educate hiring teams (with examples) so that

everyone is aligned on what a ldquomisfitrdquo is

If so how often If not why not

How well does the team assess the predictive

validity (how candidates perform once they

join your company) of your interview process

How does your team incorporate data or

feedback from people managers to test how

interview methods (questions assessments)

correlate with performance and how do you

use that data to refine the process

Scorecard ratings key

Strong no

No

Mixed

Yes

Strong yes

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 5

How much of a premium do recruiters at your

company place on recruiting talent from your

industry How might the lack of diversity in

your industry reduce the chances of building a

diverse pool

What does interviewer education look like at

your company right now Which components

are included What criteria must employees

meet to become eligible to interview

How does your company define and measure

interviewer effectiveness If an employee is

not meeting expectations what remediation

or learning opportunities does your team offer

to improve their skills in hiring

Which hiring source (referrals your career

page LinkedIn etc) has the highest yield

conversion of candidates you hire With

that source how does your recruiting team

integrate targeted marketing to communities

that are underrepresented in your company

How does your recruiting team engage with

employee attritionfirst-year churn data How

have you used it to refine your hiring (and

onboarding if your team owns it) process Do

you segment that data by demographic (race

gender etc) and if so how does that impact

your recruitment marketing or sourcing

strategy

How does your recruiting team determine

articulate and differentiate minimum and

preferred qualifications in your job posts

What did you learn from going through this exercise Does anything

jump out as a particular strength or area for improvement Use your

answers to launch conversations with others in your company who are

committed to DEampI

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 6

Part 2 For hiring managers and interviewers

Strengthening interviewing skills and questions Hiring managers play a critical role in recruiting Not only do you make

the final call about who gets hired but you also shape the approach to

interviewing and guide your team through the evaluation process

Have you ever received unclear or insufficient feedback from

interviewers Or feedback that wasnrsquot aligned with your expectations of

the interview focus

Using consistent questions and evaluation criteria significantly reduces

the likelihood that your interviewers will rely on snap decisions when

interviewing candidates This structured approach to hiring helps you

make more informed decisions about your next hire

We suggest the following approach

Step 1 Select the focus attributes yoursquod like

interviewers to assess

Step 2 Write custom questions that test for each

focus attribute

Step 3 Create rubrics for your interviewers to measure

the quality of a candidatersquos responses relative to

the scorecard

Step 4 Train your interviewers on taking notes that are

rooted in evidence not inference

Now letrsquos go through each of these steps with some examples to get

you started

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 7

Select the focus attributes yoursquod like interviewers to assess

What are the skills and qualities a candidate will need to be successful

in this role If itrsquos an existing role you may already have a clear idea If

itrsquos a new role you might need to start with your best guess based on

the responsibilities the role entails and refine it over time In either case

spend some time talking to members of your team your recruiting

partner and other company leaders to pinpoint the required skills

As a rule of thumb we recommend coming up with three to six

attributes per specific category such as cross-functional collaboration

people management and technical ability The SMART framework

(Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-based) is useful for

keeping interviewers on track

Step 2

Write custom questions that test for each focus attribute

Once you have your list of focus attributes yoursquoll want to write

questions that help interviewers test for those qualities

Pro tip

Instead of opting for

generic attributes

like ldquoorganizational

skillsrdquo consider more

targeted descriptions

like ldquomanaging multiple

prioritiesrdquo that clarify the

specific competency a

candidate would need to

be effective in the role

3Ps of interviewing We created the Purpose Process and People model to help categorize

interview questions into three tiers

Purpose questions help you identify what motivates a candidate

and assess alignment with your team andor companyrsquos values

Process questions help you measure how a candidate solves

problems thinks creatively and manages projects and deadlines

People questions help you determine how a candidate

would interact with others in your organization and how they

demonstrate emotional intelligence in the workplace

Step 1

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 8

How do you translate focus attributes into interview questions Look

for ways to dig in and get detailed information based on specific

situations

Here are a few examples to get the ball rolling We chose one attribute

for each of the 3 Ps learning and continuous improvement for Purpose

managing multiple priorities for Process and collaboration for People

with a set of sample questions for each attribute

Purpose ndash Identifying what motivates a candidate

Attribute Sample questions

Learning and continuous improvement

Name three things yoursquove done in the last few years to grow in your career

Describe a time when you proactively sought out feedback to improve your productivity or effectiveness in a role

bull What led you to seek that feedback

bull How did you determine the appropriate individuals to ask

bull How did you apply the feedback you received

bull How do you keep those learnings in mind in how you work today

Discuss an example of feedback you received that you did not agree with

bull What was the feedback

bull Why did you disagree

bull How did you communicate with the person that shared it with you

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 9

Process ndash Measuring how a candidate gets things done

Attribute Sample questions

Managing multiple priorities

Describe a time when you needed to delegate a project or task to someone on your team who you did not trust in order to prioritize something else on your list

bull What was the deliverable and why did you need to delegate it

bull What made you skeptical about this personrsquos ability to execute

bull How did you navigate the tradeoff between delegating and completing it on your own

Give me an example of a time when you needed to manage up because your workload had become unreasonable

bull What circumstances led to this

bull How did you negotiate which deliverables needed to be prioritized or shared with someone else

bull Did you encounter any pushback If so how did you manage it

Tell me about a time when you were trying to meet a deadline but were interrupted and did not make the deadline

bull How did you respond

People ndash Determining how a candidate interacts with others

Attribute Sample questions

Collaboration Describe a situation where you and your manager (or another leader at your company) disagreed on the approach to take on a project or deliverable

bull How did you evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of both approaches How did you know yours was the better option

bull How did you communicate your position to your manager How did they respond bull What was the outcome

Tell me about a time when you worked on a project and a peer was not meeting expectations What actions did you take

bull How did you balance the tradeoff between holding the person accountable and completing the work yourself

Share an example of a time when your emotional intelligence helped you in collaborating with someone who had a completely different communication style

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 10

Step 3

Create rubrics for your interviewers to measure the quality of a candidatersquos responses relative to the scorecard

Now that you have your focus attributes and interview questions

ready itrsquos time to consider how yoursquod like interviewers to score their

responses

This is the rating system we use at Greenhouse ndash feel free to make

changes or use it as is

We recommend creating rubrics for interviewers so they know how to

assess responses for every question they ask during the interview

Strong no No Mixed Yes Strong yes

1111

Herersquos an example rubric for assessing responses to ldquoTell me about

a time when you were communicating with someone and they didnrsquot

understand you What did you dordquo

Strong no No Mixed Yes Strong yes

Provides an unclear

description of

the relationship

dynamiccontext and

struggles to outline

their summary of

the situation to the

interviewer

Offers an indistinct

summary of the

intended message and

does not acknowledge

any unique relationship

dynamicsadded

context that may

have contributed to

the communication

breakdown

Does not take

accountability for

their role in the

communication

breakdown (for

example ldquoI donrsquot

see why they didnrsquot

understandrdquo) and has

not demonstrated how

they learned from this

situation for future

conversations with the

person or others in the

workplace

Offers a vague

depiction of the

situation (the message

they were looking to

convey the relationship

with the other person

and where the

miscommunication

occurred)

Provides a loose

outline of the steps

taken to identify a

plan to remedy the

communication

breakdown OR a

cursory summary of

what they learned from

the experience

Demonstrates empathy

for the other person

but does not leverage

it in articulating

their strategy

for revising their

approach for follow-up

conversations

Clearly defines the

intended vision of

the message for the

other person and

discusses wherehow

the message was lost in

translation

Acknowledges any

unique or relevant

relationship dynamics

that might have

contributed to the

message not being

clearly interpreted

Demonstrates empathy

in identifying the source

of the communication

breakdown and holds

self accountable

for identifying an

alternative way to

communicate with the

person

Clarifies any

subsequent steps

in preserving and

or growing the

relationship with

the person and

added measures

taken in adjusting

communication

(delivery style

approach) for other

conversations

Clearly defines the

intended vision of

the message for the

other person and

discusses wherehow

the message was lost in

translation

Acknowledges any

unique or relevant

relationship dynamics

that might have

contributed to the

message not being

clearly interpreted

Demonstrates empathy

in identifying the source

of the communication

breakdown and holds

self accountable

for identifying an

alternative way to

communicate with the

person

Clarifies any

subsequent steps

in preserving and

or growing the

relationship with

the person and

added measures

taken in adjusting

communication

(delivery style

approach) for other

conversations

Considers the

experience a learning

opportunity to iterate

and situate their

communication style to

match the expectations

of the audience

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 12

Step 4

Train your interviewers on taking notes that are rooted in evidence not inference

Finally yoursquoll need to hold interviewers accountable for capturing

detailed objective notes from every interview

Itrsquos important to note that without coaching interviewers probably

wonrsquot know how to do this You can help them by providing detailed

examples of what yoursquore looking for

Here are some sample scorecard notes

Rating Notes

Strong yes Lucia discussed her experience in her current role as Director of People where she is currently

responsible for recruitinghiring (8 roles to be filled within the next 2 months in their DC Ohio and

Atlanta markets) coordinating logistics (flights lodging meals programming) for an upcoming

national new hire orientation (15 attendees) and planning for the company-wide (150 ppl)

offsite retreat For hiring she mentioned how she schedules phone screens at various intervals

throughout the day and commits to taking notes on the call and scheduling next-round interviews

with hiring managers Structures days around certain ldquowork blocksrdquo where she knows what needs

to get done and will communicate if things are either taking longer than expected or if there are

roadblocks and collaborates as needed to find solutions Mentioned that she is a huge fan of

automation (Google Calendarrsquos DNS blocks) and keeps a scrolling list of to-do items Shared that

strong relationships with hiring managers made things a lot easier with schedulingprocess and

that the orientation went off without a hitch Team retreat was a multi-month effort and the team

enjoyed the experience more than the previous year both programmatically and logistically

Yes Joseacute shared about working as a Program Manager with a youth-development nonprofit and how

they were tapped to work on special projects from the Chief Program Officer on top of navigating

a complex situation with their school partner and how theyrsquove been ldquogetting their feet wetrdquo by

working with the development team on an upcoming funding proposal Their answers lacked

some detail (didnrsquot provide a backstory about the relationship with the school partner ldquothings

have always been tense but Irsquove been trying to remain positiverdquo) but were overall solid in how

theyrsquod tried to use time-tracking software to set alarms for when it was time to pivot and focus on

a different task They did mention that the team was short-staffed and that was why they decided

to step up and take on more responsibility even though they knew it would require additional work

on their end and being more organized Talked about how they have regular syncs with the CPO

to offer updates on their progress Also set up a weekly 2-hour block to work onedit the funding

proposal as theyrsquore interested in ldquodeveloping musclerdquo in fundraising

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 13

Mixed I gave Janet a ldquomixedrdquo here because I wasnrsquot convinced that her approach toward balancing

multiple projects was actually impactful or effective despite her laying out all the different steps

she took We talked about her experience as a second-year teacher (at a brand-new school)

juggling making parent calls grading lesson planning and her responsibilities as a self-appointed

sponsor for the schoolrsquos LGBTQ+ student association She talked about how she was able to use a

calendar and alerts in her phone but when probed admitted to having dropped a lot of balls with

grading student assignments since she was more focused on lesson planning and being present

for the student group Admitted that she could have done a much better job with balancing her

schedule and being more realistic with her bandwidth but also shared that she got feedback

from her Assistant Principal that she may need to scale back with the student group Again shersquos

capable of being proactive with taking on a lot but I donrsquot think I have enough evidence to say yes

or no on her ability to manage it all effectively and course correct as needed

No Morris shared an example of a time when as an Account Manager he had to navigate renewal

conversations with three different customers but spent the majority of the time discussing how

he wasnrsquot able to secure two of the renewals after focusing too heavily on one customer I probed

to learn more about his approachtechnique and he said that ldquoeverything was urgent so I didnrsquot

really have an opportunity to prioritize as much as I could haverdquo I probed more and learned that he

hadnrsquot responded to key emails from his customers and had assumed that since theyrsquod renewed

in the previous year that they would do so again Did admit to learning from the experience but Irsquom

not convinced that this example showcased his ability to do so with ease

Strong no Damon struggled to give a clear response but from what I could glean he has had a difficult

relationship with several hiring managers (HMs) in his most recent role as a full-cycle recruiter and

would often drop balls (forgetting to add notes double scheduling phone screens and not turning

around job posts quickly enough to match manager expectations) He mentioned one scenario

where he had challenges working with one HM and blamed them for the issue When I probed I

learned that Damon had neglected to ask about the candidatersquos salary requirements placing the

HM in a tough situation where they had to communicate that the candidatersquos expectations were

20 higher than the budgeted amount Damon attributed the breakdown as an ldquooversightrdquo and

shared that James (the HM) was ldquonot very likeable according to other recruiters that worked with

him beforerdquo and that he ldquoknew it would be an issuerdquo working with him on this new req

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 14

Sharing examples like these will help your team know what yoursquore

looking for Review interviewersrsquo feedback regularly Ask probing

questions about any comments that are vague or excessively

inferential Encourage them to anchor their decisions in the key

takeaways of your interview rubric

While the steps outlined above might be a pretty significant shift from

the way your team has been approaching interviewing making these

changes to your interview process can help mitigate bias and open the

door to qualified candidates from a broader range of backgrounds

Remember that you donrsquot have to do this all on your own ndash your

recruiters are your partners throughout this process Be sure to seek

their advice and input on attributes interview questions decision-

making criteria and any other area where you need a little extra

support

Pro tip

Encourage interviewers

to structure their

conversations with brief

intros (the longer the

intro the greater the

odds that an interviewer

will base their decision

on likability rather than

merit) Explain to your

team that they are

evaluating candidates

based on what they

can contribute not

popularity

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 15

Part 3 For recruiting teams

Recognizing and addressing biased behaviors in hiringAs a recruiter yoursquore responsible for the tools and processes that

shape hiring in your organization And when your company commits

to inclusive hiring a hefty portion of the responsibility will also fall on

your plate

Promoting inclusion often begins by looking at your hiring process

and putting systems in place to mitigate bias When you limit the role

bias plays in decision-making you can open the door to candidates

from traditionally underrepresented groups

In this section wersquoll offer a broad overview of how to recognize and

address bias in hiring

Recognizing biased behaviors in hiring

How can recruiters help their organizations mitigate bias in the hiring

process You can start by understanding when and where bias is likely

to pop up Wersquove summarized some of the research and collected a few

resources to help you begin your exploration of this topic

As you read through the points on the next page do any problematic

aspects of your existing process surface If so make a note to dive

deeper into those topics Wersquoll share some ideas in the next few

sections to give you a jumping-off point

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 16

bull Jargon and superficial language in job posts can

discourage women from applying and perpetuate inequality

bull Over-indexing on referrals from a homogenous workforce

(typically with less-diverse networks) can close the door for

people of color and women

bull Measuring talent through academic or employer history (both

have low predictive validity on job performance) limits access

for candidates excluded from those networks

bull People of color and women are more likely to receive offers if

another finalist shares their identity

bull Low-diversity interview teams may signal larger issues for

candidates from underrepresented groups

bull Resumes with more ldquowhite-soundingrdquo names are more likely to

be advanced in the hiring process

bull Candidates are often evaluated on their perceived ease in

assimilating or fitting into the culture rather than their capacity

to perform in the role and add to the companyrsquos culture

bull Traditional unstructured interviews are highly vulnerable to

bias ndash without consistent criteria or rubrics poorly trained

interviewers make impulse-driven decisions when evaluating

candidates

bull Interview notes are often scant high-inference or based on

likability rather than objective with examples that validate

advancement or rejection

bull Gender pay gaps persist in part because women fear reprisal for

initiating salary negotiation (from other women and men) and

compensation disparities are even wider for women of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 17

Addressing biased behaviors

Bias is a mental algorithm that can be disrupted through conscious

behavior change Effective and inclusive hiring isnrsquot so much a skill as

it is a collection of habits that can enable more inclusive outcomes and

change company cultures

Here are some practical steps you can take and tools to try out based

on the observations you noted earlier Wersquove divided these tips by

pipeline stage (sourcing screening selecting and hiring)

Sourcing

bull Clarify the attributes yoursquore looking for (capabilities performance

objectives etc) during your kickoff meeting using a structured

hiring template

bull Consider partnering with text-augmenting software like Textio

TapRecruit or Gender Decoder to expose and change the words

that may disrupt diversity at the top of your funnel

bull Solicit referrals for underrepresented talent (with added financial

incentive if possible) as an important DEampI initiative that can

also lead to greater retention and lower reports of workplace

inequity

bull The recruiting platform Gem recommends using diversity salient

strategies like targeting talent from bootcamps or affinity-based

organizations like TransTech Social and the National Society of

Black Engineers

bull Audit your job posts to determine which requirements are

essential and which are extraneous remove jargon and focus on

producing (and disseminating) content that appeals to the widest

net possible

bull Use Boolean searches in LinkedIn to find overlooked talent

by searching for alumni of colleges with high diversity indices

or affinity-based organizations like fraternities sororities and

cultural interest groups

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 18

A simple structured hiring template

Want to add more structure

to your hiring process

Here are a few questions

and points to consider next

time you open a new role

Who are you trying to hire

bull Role name

bull Department

bull Who will this person report to

bull What business objectives are you trying to meet with this role

How will you evaluate the candidate

bull Skills

bull Personality traits

bull Qualifications

What will the interview process look like

bull Define the interview stages (application review phone screen

hiring manager interview etc)

bull Decide which qualities will be assessed in each stage

bull Plan out the questions or assessments for each quality

Screening

bull Based on your structured hiring template design an effective

scorecard and create clear evaluation criteria that your

interviewers can discuss in their roundups to make informed

objective decisions when assessing candidates (see page 21 for

a quick introduction to scorecards)

bull Ensure your focus attributes are specific measurable attainable

and relevant to the role(s) yoursquore recruiting for

bull Consider integrating your companyrsquos performance management

competencies (if possible) when determining focus attributes if

you have difficulty developing new ones

bull Using the performance outcomes for the role develop a bank

of behavioral and situational interview questions that match the

complexity of the role

bull Define the range of answers for your questions from exemplary

to unacceptable and train your interviewers on how to document

their feedback in the scorecard

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 19

bull Mitigate opportunities for late-stage interviewers to be

influencedbiased by previously submitted scorecards

bull Train members of employee resource groups (ERGs) to

participate as interviewers to ensure a balance of perspectives

bull Evaluate whether leveraging skills-based hiring makes sense for

your company

bull Work samples or assessments have the highest predictive

validity for job performance and grading them anonymously can

help mitigate bias

Selecting

bull Assessments like Predictive Index can help you identify

candidates who can balance out your team

bull Establish clear consistent candidate evaluation criteria for your

interviewers to adhere to as a part of a structured hiring process

bull Train your interviewers with proper interview prep material use

focus attributes to eliminate redundancy and require detailed

low-inference and objective interview notes for every attribute

assessed

bull Review all interview feedback ask probing questions about

vague or inferential comments and encourage interviewers to

anchor their decisions in the key takeaways of your interview

rubric

Hiring

bull Audit your compensation structure to ensure that salaries are at

market rate and determine your thresholds for salary negotiation

regardless of the candidate

bull Be transparent about your compensation philosophy and

consider not allowing anyone to negotiate compensation to

drive pay equity

bull Review comments from candidate surveys to measure candidate

experience and leverage the data to make iterations where

necessary throughout your process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 20

Creating attributes

Aim for at least 3ndash6 mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive

focus attributes per category for your scorecards Consider integrating

the SMART (Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-based)

framework to ensure your interviewers are enabled to measure what

matters

Building interview questions

Collaborate with hiring managers to design custom interview questions

for each attribute deemed necessary for success in the role Aligning

these questions to your scorecard focus attributes enables your

interviewers to make informed decisions that can more accurately

predict job performance

Establishing a decision-making framework

After developing your focus attributes and interview questions be sure

to define evaluation expectations for interview teams Ideally each

attribute-aligned question will include a specific rubric that outlines what

interviewers should look for in candidate answers and assessments

You can adapt this scorecard rating system to suit your company

Scorecard essentials for everyone

Scorecards are

fundamental to structured

hiring Consistent

candidate evaluation helps

mitigate interviewer bias

reduce total interview time

and drive a more evidence-

based decision framework

for selecting the right

talent

Herersquos a high-level

overview of scorecard

essentials

Strong yes is an exemplary response that clearly addresses each

element of the question with distinct examples (if appropriate)

Yes is a solid acceptable response that addresses most or all elements

of the question with clear examples

Mixed is an inconclusive response that may partially address the

question but does not provide the interviewer with evidence about the

candidatersquos capabilities A mixed rating does not equate to ldquoI donrsquot

knowrdquo ndash when an interviewer doesnrsquot have enough evidence they

should leave the attribute blank

No is an unacceptable response that ignores most or multiple

elements of the question

Strong no is an extremely unacceptable answer that doesnrsquot address

the question at all andor contains a comment that conflicts with your

companyrsquos culture Beyond that answers may blatantly disparage

others former employers communities etc

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 21

Part 4 For business leaders

Prioritizing DEampIForward-thinking business leaders (like you) are actively focused on

elevating their DEampI practices ndash not only to ensure that their teams

accurately reflect the demographics of their local population but also

to create a work environment that offers equitable opportunities where

people of all identities can thrive

Traditionally business leaders have looked to recruiting teams to

shoulder the work of diversifying the candidates moving through their

hiring pipelines However great business leaders understand that DEampI

is a company-wide commitment starting from the top ndash at Greenhouse

we call this the Talent Maker mindset

In a world where 57 of employees believe their companies should

improve diversity among their internal workforce and 86 of job

seekers actively seek out companies with diverse employee bases

proactively building inclusive hiring practices to allow for a better

diversity of hires isnrsquot just the right thing to do ndash itrsquos the smart thing

to do

McKinsey found that companies in the top quartile for racialethnic and

gender diversity were respectively 35 and 15 more likely to have

financial returns above the national median for their particular industry

That means being great at hiring today is about a lot more than how

quickly you make a hire Itrsquos also about exercising inclusive hiring

practices and having diversity on both sides of the interview process

among your interviewers and your candidates Itrsquos about business

leaders getting involved with DEampI to generate meaningful outcomes

No matter how valiantly a recruiter works to fill the top of a recruiting

funnel with underrepresented candidates if hiring managers donrsquot

similarly prioritize inclusive hiring those candidates will inevitably

leave the funnel ndash whether by choice or through the adverse impact of

unconscious bias

Letrsquos explore some of the ways that Talent Makers can boost DEampI in

their hiring strategies

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 22

Before focusing externally look internally at your own company

Diversifying your team isnrsquot only about bringing in a new hire who can

add a new perspective Itrsquos just as much about creating an environment

that allows that new hire to share their perspective and feel heard

Some leaders may skirt conversations around identity ndash by claiming to

be ldquocolorblindrdquo when it comes to race for example ndash but great leaders

lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each

employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

Ask questions

What does all this mean through the lens of hiring As you start

thinking about how to source underrepresented candidates answer

these questions

bull Why would a candidate from an underrepresented group want to

join your team

bull How would you articulate your commitment to supporting and

advocating for them as a manager

bull If you were releasing a public statement or articulating your

companyrsquos commitment to equity in response toin solidarity

with a societal movement how would you differentiate your

company from other organizations in a way thatrsquos authentic

bull More importantly how will you hold yourself accountable over

time for driving the changes you want to see

Next take a hard look at the demographics of your team Determine

the following

bull Which demographic groups ndash including but not limited to

gender raceethnicity sexual orientation industry experience

seniority education socioeconomic status and ability status ndash

are represented

bull Which groups are you lacking or are underrepresented

bull Look for patterns in the profiles of the people yoursquove hired up to

now ndash do they imply an inclination toward a certain personality

type background set of qualifications or even raceethnicity

bull If so how are you justifying that

Great leaders lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 23

bull Could you inadvertently be screening for privilege (think

preferred schools or degrees) rather than for ability and

potential

Have the conversation

Itrsquos time to invite your team into the conversation This can be the

uncomfortable part especially if yoursquore in an environment that

doesnrsquot have a precedent for such dialogues Actively sharing why

yoursquore prioritizing DEampI will signal its importance to your team help

address any discrepancies and start building the muscle for healthy

conversations on topics like race Yoursquoll also drive new awareness

and behaviors that can have outsized impacts on who you hire by

influencing your interview panels to be more open-minded and provide

better interviewing experiences to underrepresented candidates

Finally collaborate with your people operations or HR team to review

current department demographics based on self-reported employee

data This will lead to informed discussions about which groups to

focus on when diversifying hiring pipelines which ties back to your

goals around having better representation among your employees

Write your job descriptionsjob posts through an inclusive lens

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader

is a job description for a role on your team Itrsquos the first touchpoint

candidates have with your team and it directly impacts who does ndash

and doesnrsquot ndash engage in your interview process

Here are tips on how to make your job descriptions more inclusive ndash

and more attractive to the candidates yoursquore targeting

Identify and rework inherently biased language

Countless job descriptions contain language that is gendered which

can skew your talent pool before you even interact with candidates

Platforms like Textio leverage artificial intelligence to help remove

gender bias business jargon and other phrases that reinforce

stereotypes in written content

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader is a job description for a role on your team

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 24

Describe goals and growth opportunities

Focus on describing the exciting goals and clear objectives of the

job rather than listing day-to-day responsibilities that arenrsquot tied to

outcomes This will not only inspire candidates it will also help them

decide if what theyrsquoll own and learn in your job is aligned with their

career goals

Examples of unintentionally biased language

Masculine-tone

Exhaustive

Enforcement

Fearless

Feminine-tone

Transparent

Catalyst

In touch with

Textio writes ldquoA language pattern is considered gendered if it

statistically changes the proportion of men and women who respond

to a job post containing itrdquo Their research reveals that in jobs where

a man is hired the original job post averages almost twice as many

masculine-tone phrases as feminine In jobs where a woman is hired

Textio finds the exact opposite there are twice as many feminine-tone

phrases as masculine in the job post Here are a few common phrases

that exert this type of bias effect

bull What are the goals and outcomes you want this person to achieve

bull What are the success metrics being tracked and the desired outcomes

bull What does growth look like on your team when someone delivers

quarter over quarter

bull Who will this person be actively collaborating with

Questions to answer in your job description

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 25

Focus on skills over requirements

Carefully consider each requirement yoursquore adding to your job

description Can you shift your focus away from a specific number

of years of work experience or required degrees and move toward

a candidatersquos abilities Could you take it a step further and include

verbiage that encourages candidates to apply even if they might not

have all the necessary qualifications

Get other opinions

Continue to iterate and socialize your job description Share it with

someone whorsquos currently in the role or someone who represents an

underrepresented demographic group to learn if there are better ways to

position the content Incorporating feedback from different perspectives

is key to eliminating unintentional biases in the language

Use structured hiring to mitigate unconscious bias

Now that yoursquove communicated your focus on diversity and published

an inclusive job description you might think most of your work is

behind you After all isnrsquot the process mostly in your recruiterrsquos hands

from here Not just yet Once you have candidates entering your hiring

pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices

will really be put to the test

Consider adding an inclusivity statement

Is your job description unintentionally scaring candidates away

Research shows that women tend to only apply for jobs when they meet

100 of the requirements One way to encourage candidates from

diverse backgrounds to apply is by adding an inclusivity statement to

your list of qualifications Jobs are filled 6 faster when the description

includes an inclusion message or EEO statement Herersquos the Greenhouse

version (itrsquos the last item in the list of qualifications) ldquoYour own unique

talents If you donrsquot meet 100 of the qualifications outlined above tell

us why yoursquod be a great fit for this role in your cover letterrdquo

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 26

Here are a few important things to keep in mind to stay accountable to

your commitment to DEampI

Screen in over screening out

When reviewing resumes use the framework of screening in rather

than screening out While certain jobs will have hard requirements ndash an

engineer might need fluency in a certain coding language to perform in

their job ndash many employers are placing less emphasis on a strict set of

resume qualifications when determining who to move to the next stage

and thinking about how they can invest in training people who have

potential but donrsquot have specific qualifications

When conducting interviews many hiring managers get

understandably nervous when considering candidates from

backgrounds that are not currently represented on their team That

behavior is often grounded in similar-to-me bias and perpetuates

homogeneity Pay close attention to how you and your interviewers

react to historically underrepresented candidates and actively exercise

open-mindedness Your best hire may be the person who is different

from everyone else your team has hired in the past

Use the same criteria

To create an even playing field assess all candidates against the same

hiring criteria that yoursquove determined is necessary for the role which

is the core of structured hiring Similarly make sure each candidate is

answering the same interview questions from your interviewers This

allows your interviewers not only to focus on relevant areas to assess

but also to compare candidates in a data-driven and fair way in the

event yoursquore choosing between several finalists

Diversify your panel

Finally consider your interview panel Which demographic groups are

represented and which are not represented Do you have a panel of all

men Of all the same ethnicity or race Of all millennials If the answer

is yes to any of these scenarios how are you planning to address this

elephant in the room with candidates who identify differently Put

yourself in their shoes and be prepared to clearly explain why creating

a more diverse team is a priority for you

Once you have candidates entering your hiring pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices will really be put to the test

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 27

Measure wins by progress and improvements

If you donrsquot already have an extensive DEampI program at your

organization figuring out where to start can be challenging Who we

are informs everything we do ndash who we hire what we observe where

we live how we communicate ndash and it can be tough to know where to

focus when checking our own potential biases However starting with a

deep reflection of your hiring process is a way to take ownership of your

responsibility as a business leader to prioritize DEampI Your commitment

may not produce immediate results since company demographics

arenrsquot something that can change overnight but your efforts will drive

meaningful and positive change in the long run with respect to who you

hire and advocate for in your company

Own your influence As a leader you have the ability to influence others through your words

and actions Consider the ways you can demonstrate your commitment

to DEampI Here are some ideas to get you started

bull Sponsor an employee resource group and commit to helping

them achieve their goals

bull Attend diversity sourcing events and invite coworkers to join you

bull Refer candidates from overlookedunderrepresented groups to

open roles throughout your organization

bull Look for local organizations you can partner with ndash perhaps

you can sponsor a hackathon offer an internship or otherwise

support their mission

bull Ask for feedback and suggestions ndash your team might already

have some great ideas about how to prioritize DEampI

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 28

Part 5 For everyone

Creating an inclusive candidate experience to build stronger more diverse teamsEvery person in your company ndash regardless of their job title ndash can

contribute to inclusive hiring Whether theyrsquore making referrals

interviewing candidates or talking to prospects their actions can

have an impact on candidate experience Thatrsquos why itrsquos essential

to be intentional about the role everyone plays

Here are a few ways to create an inclusive candidate experience

Structured hiring

Structured hiring is an approach where selection decisions are

based on evidence not emotion Leaders align the role to a business

objective and build a rigorous and objective interview process

through conversations assignments and the like that can be used to

predict job performance Candidates are asked consistent questions

that connect back to specific attributes required for the role and

interviewers evaluate responses against a defined rating system in

the interview scorecard

In previous sections we covered how hiring managers and recruiters

can partner to implement structured hiring Remember that rolling

it out to your entire company will take time and effort Everyone

involved in the interview process will need to be trained on things

like how to conduct interviews take notes and score candidates

Consider integrating this training into new hire onboarding team

offsites or manager professional development to ensure everyone

stays up to date

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 29

Defining and hiring for culture add

Over the past several years wersquove seen companies move away

from assessing candidates on their ldquoculture fitrdquo because this term

can lead to homogeneous hiring But many companies still want

a way to determine whether candidates are aligned with their values

This is where ldquoculture addrdquo or values interviews can come into play

Culture-add interviews also give candidates the chance to meet

people from other teams and departments to get a broader sense of

your company culture

If culture-add interviews are part of your hiring process (or you want

them to be) yoursquoll want to consider the following

bull Who conducts culture-add interviews What is the selection

process like for identifying these interviewers within your

company and training them

bull Which questions does the culture-add interview cover How do

you define great acceptable and unacceptable answers

bull How often will you revisit and update this process

Hiring Maturity success story Neil Casey ThoughtWorks

In this limited podcast

series Greenhouse

President and Co-

founder Jon Stross sat

down with talent leaders

from leading companies

to discuss their Hiring

Maturity journeys Listen

in as Jon invites Neil

Casey Global Head of

Sourcing and Strategic

Hiring at ThoughtWorks

to discuss building an

inclusive hiring process

at scale

Explore the Greenhouse DEampI feature set

Take structured interviewing to the next level with solutions that enable

recruiters interviewers and hiring managers to operationalize and

scale fairer hiring practices Herersquos a brief overview of the Greenhouse

DEampI feature set

Data collection and reporting ndash Track self-reported applicant

demographic data throughout the hiring funnel (from sourcing

to offer) and measure pass-throughdrop-off rates

In-the-moment interventions ndash Reminders that nudge users to

slow down and avoid instinctive mental shortcuts that arenrsquot

rooted in evidence or tied to job-relevant criteria

Structured decision-making ndash Added guardrails that support

a more objective selection process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 30

Encouraging an inclusive approach to employee referrals

Employee referrals are a great way to get everyone involved in the

hiring process Itrsquos exciting to have a hand in shaping the future of your

company while helping someone in your network land their next role

But certain groups tend to benefit from referrals more than others

which can lead to more homogeneity

The good news is that referrals donrsquot automatically lead to

homogeneous hires according to research by DEampI consultancy

Paradigm They partnered with Pinterest to determine why employee

referrals tend to be homogenous Is it because peoplersquos networks

are truly that homogenous or is it due to pattern-matching bias

(employees are looking around at their coworkers and only thinking

of people who are similar to the existing team) Paradigm found that

when a leader asked employees to be more mindful about diversity

when offering referrals especially people of color and women it made

a tangible impact over the following six weeks So be sure to encourage

employees to consider diversity when making referrals

DonorsChoose takes a data-driven approach to DEampI in their hiring

DonorsChoosersquos challenge Develop a hiring process that aligns with

the organizationrsquos commitment to DEampI in their work in education

DonorsChoose has a high standard for their DEampI hiring efforts and

wanted to intentionally drive a more diverse candidate pool To do so

they had to prioritize gathering better data on diversity in their hiring

pools Without that data conversations between the People and Talent

team and hiring managers felt uninformed and ineffective

DonorsChoose wanted data at their fingertips to drive their DEampI

hiring efforts The Greenhouse DEampI feature set offered them a robust

set of tools Since turning on custom demographic reporting the

DonorsChoose team has seen an improvement and recognized that

now 58 of the candidates who have made it to the face-to-face

interview stage at DonorsChoose have identified as people of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 31

ConclusionWe recommend sitting with these strategies for a few days rather than

immediately jumping into action Take time to reflect on your next

steps and collaborate with your internal partners in order to create the

optimal DEampI hiring strategy for your company

Remember that when it comes to DEampI therersquos no ldquoend staterdquo to arrive

at Wersquore all on the same journey of curiosity listening progress and

discovery

If yoursquod like to do further reading or research on any of the topics we

covered wersquove curated a list of recommended reading for you

We are your partners and allies and stand beside you in this work and

will help you as best we can All of us at Greenhouse are committed to

bringing about lasting change and we will be your partner in creating

a more equitable hiring process so you can build more inclusive

stronger teams

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 32

Recommended reading

DEampI strategy Creating an Effective Diversity and Inclusion

Program

DEampI strategy Hiring Diverse Candidates is Not Enough ndash

Itrsquos About Keeping Them

DEampI strategy Toward a Racially Just Workplace

DEampI strategy Why So Many Organizations Stay White

DEampI strategy Do Your DampI Efforts Include People with

Disabilities

Hiring If Therersquos Only One Woman in Your Candidate

Pool Therersquos Statisically No Chance Shersquoll Be

Hired

Hiring A Data-Driven Approach to Hiring More

Diverse Talent

Hiring How to Alter Your Hiring Practices to Increase

Diversity

Hiring Research How Speech Patterns Lead to

Hiring Bias

Intersectionality Do Your Diversity Efforts Reflect the

Experiences of Women of Color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 33

Recommended reading (continued)

Sourcing Could This Be The Secret To Hiring More

Women And People Of Color

Sourcing Diversity Sourcing Strategy 3 LinkedIn

Search Tips from Boolean Master Glen

Cathey

Sourcing How to increase workplace diversity with

employee referrals

Unconscious bias Managing Unconscious Bias Strategies to

Manage Bias amp Build More Diverse Inclusive

Organizations

Unconscious bias 50 Ways to Fight Bias

Unconscious bias 12 Unconscious Bias Examples and How to

Avoid Them in the Workplace

Unconscious bias Harvard Project Implicit Association Tests

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 34

Greenhouse is the hiring software company

We help businesses be great at hiring through

our powerful hiring approach complete suite of

software and services and large partner ecosystem ndash

so businesses can hire for whatrsquos next

To learn more visit

greenhouseio

Page 5: eBook Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company

Part 1 Getting started

Take a self-assessment of your current stateBefore jumping into specific tactics we encourage you to work through

this self-assessment

Letrsquos start with a hypothetical scenario focused on inclusion Imagine

you are the hiring manager tasked with hiring a head of diversity for

your company A finalist candidate asks you the following questions

How would you answer And how would you rate yourself and your

process on based on those answers

Remember the point of this exercise is to be honest with yourself and

accurately describe where you are today

Questions Scorecard rating

Do you actively evaluate your hiring process

to compare your inbound (direct applicants)

and outbound (sourced passive candidates

referrals) talent

Give a 1ndash2 sentence definition of ldquoculture

fitrdquo and examples of how it shows up at your

company If your company indexes hiring

decisions against this definition do you

educate hiring teams (with examples) so that

everyone is aligned on what a ldquomisfitrdquo is

If so how often If not why not

How well does the team assess the predictive

validity (how candidates perform once they

join your company) of your interview process

How does your team incorporate data or

feedback from people managers to test how

interview methods (questions assessments)

correlate with performance and how do you

use that data to refine the process

Scorecard ratings key

Strong no

No

Mixed

Yes

Strong yes

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 5

How much of a premium do recruiters at your

company place on recruiting talent from your

industry How might the lack of diversity in

your industry reduce the chances of building a

diverse pool

What does interviewer education look like at

your company right now Which components

are included What criteria must employees

meet to become eligible to interview

How does your company define and measure

interviewer effectiveness If an employee is

not meeting expectations what remediation

or learning opportunities does your team offer

to improve their skills in hiring

Which hiring source (referrals your career

page LinkedIn etc) has the highest yield

conversion of candidates you hire With

that source how does your recruiting team

integrate targeted marketing to communities

that are underrepresented in your company

How does your recruiting team engage with

employee attritionfirst-year churn data How

have you used it to refine your hiring (and

onboarding if your team owns it) process Do

you segment that data by demographic (race

gender etc) and if so how does that impact

your recruitment marketing or sourcing

strategy

How does your recruiting team determine

articulate and differentiate minimum and

preferred qualifications in your job posts

What did you learn from going through this exercise Does anything

jump out as a particular strength or area for improvement Use your

answers to launch conversations with others in your company who are

committed to DEampI

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 6

Part 2 For hiring managers and interviewers

Strengthening interviewing skills and questions Hiring managers play a critical role in recruiting Not only do you make

the final call about who gets hired but you also shape the approach to

interviewing and guide your team through the evaluation process

Have you ever received unclear or insufficient feedback from

interviewers Or feedback that wasnrsquot aligned with your expectations of

the interview focus

Using consistent questions and evaluation criteria significantly reduces

the likelihood that your interviewers will rely on snap decisions when

interviewing candidates This structured approach to hiring helps you

make more informed decisions about your next hire

We suggest the following approach

Step 1 Select the focus attributes yoursquod like

interviewers to assess

Step 2 Write custom questions that test for each

focus attribute

Step 3 Create rubrics for your interviewers to measure

the quality of a candidatersquos responses relative to

the scorecard

Step 4 Train your interviewers on taking notes that are

rooted in evidence not inference

Now letrsquos go through each of these steps with some examples to get

you started

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 7

Select the focus attributes yoursquod like interviewers to assess

What are the skills and qualities a candidate will need to be successful

in this role If itrsquos an existing role you may already have a clear idea If

itrsquos a new role you might need to start with your best guess based on

the responsibilities the role entails and refine it over time In either case

spend some time talking to members of your team your recruiting

partner and other company leaders to pinpoint the required skills

As a rule of thumb we recommend coming up with three to six

attributes per specific category such as cross-functional collaboration

people management and technical ability The SMART framework

(Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-based) is useful for

keeping interviewers on track

Step 2

Write custom questions that test for each focus attribute

Once you have your list of focus attributes yoursquoll want to write

questions that help interviewers test for those qualities

Pro tip

Instead of opting for

generic attributes

like ldquoorganizational

skillsrdquo consider more

targeted descriptions

like ldquomanaging multiple

prioritiesrdquo that clarify the

specific competency a

candidate would need to

be effective in the role

3Ps of interviewing We created the Purpose Process and People model to help categorize

interview questions into three tiers

Purpose questions help you identify what motivates a candidate

and assess alignment with your team andor companyrsquos values

Process questions help you measure how a candidate solves

problems thinks creatively and manages projects and deadlines

People questions help you determine how a candidate

would interact with others in your organization and how they

demonstrate emotional intelligence in the workplace

Step 1

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 8

How do you translate focus attributes into interview questions Look

for ways to dig in and get detailed information based on specific

situations

Here are a few examples to get the ball rolling We chose one attribute

for each of the 3 Ps learning and continuous improvement for Purpose

managing multiple priorities for Process and collaboration for People

with a set of sample questions for each attribute

Purpose ndash Identifying what motivates a candidate

Attribute Sample questions

Learning and continuous improvement

Name three things yoursquove done in the last few years to grow in your career

Describe a time when you proactively sought out feedback to improve your productivity or effectiveness in a role

bull What led you to seek that feedback

bull How did you determine the appropriate individuals to ask

bull How did you apply the feedback you received

bull How do you keep those learnings in mind in how you work today

Discuss an example of feedback you received that you did not agree with

bull What was the feedback

bull Why did you disagree

bull How did you communicate with the person that shared it with you

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 9

Process ndash Measuring how a candidate gets things done

Attribute Sample questions

Managing multiple priorities

Describe a time when you needed to delegate a project or task to someone on your team who you did not trust in order to prioritize something else on your list

bull What was the deliverable and why did you need to delegate it

bull What made you skeptical about this personrsquos ability to execute

bull How did you navigate the tradeoff between delegating and completing it on your own

Give me an example of a time when you needed to manage up because your workload had become unreasonable

bull What circumstances led to this

bull How did you negotiate which deliverables needed to be prioritized or shared with someone else

bull Did you encounter any pushback If so how did you manage it

Tell me about a time when you were trying to meet a deadline but were interrupted and did not make the deadline

bull How did you respond

People ndash Determining how a candidate interacts with others

Attribute Sample questions

Collaboration Describe a situation where you and your manager (or another leader at your company) disagreed on the approach to take on a project or deliverable

bull How did you evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of both approaches How did you know yours was the better option

bull How did you communicate your position to your manager How did they respond bull What was the outcome

Tell me about a time when you worked on a project and a peer was not meeting expectations What actions did you take

bull How did you balance the tradeoff between holding the person accountable and completing the work yourself

Share an example of a time when your emotional intelligence helped you in collaborating with someone who had a completely different communication style

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 10

Step 3

Create rubrics for your interviewers to measure the quality of a candidatersquos responses relative to the scorecard

Now that you have your focus attributes and interview questions

ready itrsquos time to consider how yoursquod like interviewers to score their

responses

This is the rating system we use at Greenhouse ndash feel free to make

changes or use it as is

We recommend creating rubrics for interviewers so they know how to

assess responses for every question they ask during the interview

Strong no No Mixed Yes Strong yes

1111

Herersquos an example rubric for assessing responses to ldquoTell me about

a time when you were communicating with someone and they didnrsquot

understand you What did you dordquo

Strong no No Mixed Yes Strong yes

Provides an unclear

description of

the relationship

dynamiccontext and

struggles to outline

their summary of

the situation to the

interviewer

Offers an indistinct

summary of the

intended message and

does not acknowledge

any unique relationship

dynamicsadded

context that may

have contributed to

the communication

breakdown

Does not take

accountability for

their role in the

communication

breakdown (for

example ldquoI donrsquot

see why they didnrsquot

understandrdquo) and has

not demonstrated how

they learned from this

situation for future

conversations with the

person or others in the

workplace

Offers a vague

depiction of the

situation (the message

they were looking to

convey the relationship

with the other person

and where the

miscommunication

occurred)

Provides a loose

outline of the steps

taken to identify a

plan to remedy the

communication

breakdown OR a

cursory summary of

what they learned from

the experience

Demonstrates empathy

for the other person

but does not leverage

it in articulating

their strategy

for revising their

approach for follow-up

conversations

Clearly defines the

intended vision of

the message for the

other person and

discusses wherehow

the message was lost in

translation

Acknowledges any

unique or relevant

relationship dynamics

that might have

contributed to the

message not being

clearly interpreted

Demonstrates empathy

in identifying the source

of the communication

breakdown and holds

self accountable

for identifying an

alternative way to

communicate with the

person

Clarifies any

subsequent steps

in preserving and

or growing the

relationship with

the person and

added measures

taken in adjusting

communication

(delivery style

approach) for other

conversations

Clearly defines the

intended vision of

the message for the

other person and

discusses wherehow

the message was lost in

translation

Acknowledges any

unique or relevant

relationship dynamics

that might have

contributed to the

message not being

clearly interpreted

Demonstrates empathy

in identifying the source

of the communication

breakdown and holds

self accountable

for identifying an

alternative way to

communicate with the

person

Clarifies any

subsequent steps

in preserving and

or growing the

relationship with

the person and

added measures

taken in adjusting

communication

(delivery style

approach) for other

conversations

Considers the

experience a learning

opportunity to iterate

and situate their

communication style to

match the expectations

of the audience

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 12

Step 4

Train your interviewers on taking notes that are rooted in evidence not inference

Finally yoursquoll need to hold interviewers accountable for capturing

detailed objective notes from every interview

Itrsquos important to note that without coaching interviewers probably

wonrsquot know how to do this You can help them by providing detailed

examples of what yoursquore looking for

Here are some sample scorecard notes

Rating Notes

Strong yes Lucia discussed her experience in her current role as Director of People where she is currently

responsible for recruitinghiring (8 roles to be filled within the next 2 months in their DC Ohio and

Atlanta markets) coordinating logistics (flights lodging meals programming) for an upcoming

national new hire orientation (15 attendees) and planning for the company-wide (150 ppl)

offsite retreat For hiring she mentioned how she schedules phone screens at various intervals

throughout the day and commits to taking notes on the call and scheduling next-round interviews

with hiring managers Structures days around certain ldquowork blocksrdquo where she knows what needs

to get done and will communicate if things are either taking longer than expected or if there are

roadblocks and collaborates as needed to find solutions Mentioned that she is a huge fan of

automation (Google Calendarrsquos DNS blocks) and keeps a scrolling list of to-do items Shared that

strong relationships with hiring managers made things a lot easier with schedulingprocess and

that the orientation went off without a hitch Team retreat was a multi-month effort and the team

enjoyed the experience more than the previous year both programmatically and logistically

Yes Joseacute shared about working as a Program Manager with a youth-development nonprofit and how

they were tapped to work on special projects from the Chief Program Officer on top of navigating

a complex situation with their school partner and how theyrsquove been ldquogetting their feet wetrdquo by

working with the development team on an upcoming funding proposal Their answers lacked

some detail (didnrsquot provide a backstory about the relationship with the school partner ldquothings

have always been tense but Irsquove been trying to remain positiverdquo) but were overall solid in how

theyrsquod tried to use time-tracking software to set alarms for when it was time to pivot and focus on

a different task They did mention that the team was short-staffed and that was why they decided

to step up and take on more responsibility even though they knew it would require additional work

on their end and being more organized Talked about how they have regular syncs with the CPO

to offer updates on their progress Also set up a weekly 2-hour block to work onedit the funding

proposal as theyrsquore interested in ldquodeveloping musclerdquo in fundraising

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 13

Mixed I gave Janet a ldquomixedrdquo here because I wasnrsquot convinced that her approach toward balancing

multiple projects was actually impactful or effective despite her laying out all the different steps

she took We talked about her experience as a second-year teacher (at a brand-new school)

juggling making parent calls grading lesson planning and her responsibilities as a self-appointed

sponsor for the schoolrsquos LGBTQ+ student association She talked about how she was able to use a

calendar and alerts in her phone but when probed admitted to having dropped a lot of balls with

grading student assignments since she was more focused on lesson planning and being present

for the student group Admitted that she could have done a much better job with balancing her

schedule and being more realistic with her bandwidth but also shared that she got feedback

from her Assistant Principal that she may need to scale back with the student group Again shersquos

capable of being proactive with taking on a lot but I donrsquot think I have enough evidence to say yes

or no on her ability to manage it all effectively and course correct as needed

No Morris shared an example of a time when as an Account Manager he had to navigate renewal

conversations with three different customers but spent the majority of the time discussing how

he wasnrsquot able to secure two of the renewals after focusing too heavily on one customer I probed

to learn more about his approachtechnique and he said that ldquoeverything was urgent so I didnrsquot

really have an opportunity to prioritize as much as I could haverdquo I probed more and learned that he

hadnrsquot responded to key emails from his customers and had assumed that since theyrsquod renewed

in the previous year that they would do so again Did admit to learning from the experience but Irsquom

not convinced that this example showcased his ability to do so with ease

Strong no Damon struggled to give a clear response but from what I could glean he has had a difficult

relationship with several hiring managers (HMs) in his most recent role as a full-cycle recruiter and

would often drop balls (forgetting to add notes double scheduling phone screens and not turning

around job posts quickly enough to match manager expectations) He mentioned one scenario

where he had challenges working with one HM and blamed them for the issue When I probed I

learned that Damon had neglected to ask about the candidatersquos salary requirements placing the

HM in a tough situation where they had to communicate that the candidatersquos expectations were

20 higher than the budgeted amount Damon attributed the breakdown as an ldquooversightrdquo and

shared that James (the HM) was ldquonot very likeable according to other recruiters that worked with

him beforerdquo and that he ldquoknew it would be an issuerdquo working with him on this new req

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 14

Sharing examples like these will help your team know what yoursquore

looking for Review interviewersrsquo feedback regularly Ask probing

questions about any comments that are vague or excessively

inferential Encourage them to anchor their decisions in the key

takeaways of your interview rubric

While the steps outlined above might be a pretty significant shift from

the way your team has been approaching interviewing making these

changes to your interview process can help mitigate bias and open the

door to qualified candidates from a broader range of backgrounds

Remember that you donrsquot have to do this all on your own ndash your

recruiters are your partners throughout this process Be sure to seek

their advice and input on attributes interview questions decision-

making criteria and any other area where you need a little extra

support

Pro tip

Encourage interviewers

to structure their

conversations with brief

intros (the longer the

intro the greater the

odds that an interviewer

will base their decision

on likability rather than

merit) Explain to your

team that they are

evaluating candidates

based on what they

can contribute not

popularity

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 15

Part 3 For recruiting teams

Recognizing and addressing biased behaviors in hiringAs a recruiter yoursquore responsible for the tools and processes that

shape hiring in your organization And when your company commits

to inclusive hiring a hefty portion of the responsibility will also fall on

your plate

Promoting inclusion often begins by looking at your hiring process

and putting systems in place to mitigate bias When you limit the role

bias plays in decision-making you can open the door to candidates

from traditionally underrepresented groups

In this section wersquoll offer a broad overview of how to recognize and

address bias in hiring

Recognizing biased behaviors in hiring

How can recruiters help their organizations mitigate bias in the hiring

process You can start by understanding when and where bias is likely

to pop up Wersquove summarized some of the research and collected a few

resources to help you begin your exploration of this topic

As you read through the points on the next page do any problematic

aspects of your existing process surface If so make a note to dive

deeper into those topics Wersquoll share some ideas in the next few

sections to give you a jumping-off point

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 16

bull Jargon and superficial language in job posts can

discourage women from applying and perpetuate inequality

bull Over-indexing on referrals from a homogenous workforce

(typically with less-diverse networks) can close the door for

people of color and women

bull Measuring talent through academic or employer history (both

have low predictive validity on job performance) limits access

for candidates excluded from those networks

bull People of color and women are more likely to receive offers if

another finalist shares their identity

bull Low-diversity interview teams may signal larger issues for

candidates from underrepresented groups

bull Resumes with more ldquowhite-soundingrdquo names are more likely to

be advanced in the hiring process

bull Candidates are often evaluated on their perceived ease in

assimilating or fitting into the culture rather than their capacity

to perform in the role and add to the companyrsquos culture

bull Traditional unstructured interviews are highly vulnerable to

bias ndash without consistent criteria or rubrics poorly trained

interviewers make impulse-driven decisions when evaluating

candidates

bull Interview notes are often scant high-inference or based on

likability rather than objective with examples that validate

advancement or rejection

bull Gender pay gaps persist in part because women fear reprisal for

initiating salary negotiation (from other women and men) and

compensation disparities are even wider for women of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 17

Addressing biased behaviors

Bias is a mental algorithm that can be disrupted through conscious

behavior change Effective and inclusive hiring isnrsquot so much a skill as

it is a collection of habits that can enable more inclusive outcomes and

change company cultures

Here are some practical steps you can take and tools to try out based

on the observations you noted earlier Wersquove divided these tips by

pipeline stage (sourcing screening selecting and hiring)

Sourcing

bull Clarify the attributes yoursquore looking for (capabilities performance

objectives etc) during your kickoff meeting using a structured

hiring template

bull Consider partnering with text-augmenting software like Textio

TapRecruit or Gender Decoder to expose and change the words

that may disrupt diversity at the top of your funnel

bull Solicit referrals for underrepresented talent (with added financial

incentive if possible) as an important DEampI initiative that can

also lead to greater retention and lower reports of workplace

inequity

bull The recruiting platform Gem recommends using diversity salient

strategies like targeting talent from bootcamps or affinity-based

organizations like TransTech Social and the National Society of

Black Engineers

bull Audit your job posts to determine which requirements are

essential and which are extraneous remove jargon and focus on

producing (and disseminating) content that appeals to the widest

net possible

bull Use Boolean searches in LinkedIn to find overlooked talent

by searching for alumni of colleges with high diversity indices

or affinity-based organizations like fraternities sororities and

cultural interest groups

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 18

A simple structured hiring template

Want to add more structure

to your hiring process

Here are a few questions

and points to consider next

time you open a new role

Who are you trying to hire

bull Role name

bull Department

bull Who will this person report to

bull What business objectives are you trying to meet with this role

How will you evaluate the candidate

bull Skills

bull Personality traits

bull Qualifications

What will the interview process look like

bull Define the interview stages (application review phone screen

hiring manager interview etc)

bull Decide which qualities will be assessed in each stage

bull Plan out the questions or assessments for each quality

Screening

bull Based on your structured hiring template design an effective

scorecard and create clear evaluation criteria that your

interviewers can discuss in their roundups to make informed

objective decisions when assessing candidates (see page 21 for

a quick introduction to scorecards)

bull Ensure your focus attributes are specific measurable attainable

and relevant to the role(s) yoursquore recruiting for

bull Consider integrating your companyrsquos performance management

competencies (if possible) when determining focus attributes if

you have difficulty developing new ones

bull Using the performance outcomes for the role develop a bank

of behavioral and situational interview questions that match the

complexity of the role

bull Define the range of answers for your questions from exemplary

to unacceptable and train your interviewers on how to document

their feedback in the scorecard

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 19

bull Mitigate opportunities for late-stage interviewers to be

influencedbiased by previously submitted scorecards

bull Train members of employee resource groups (ERGs) to

participate as interviewers to ensure a balance of perspectives

bull Evaluate whether leveraging skills-based hiring makes sense for

your company

bull Work samples or assessments have the highest predictive

validity for job performance and grading them anonymously can

help mitigate bias

Selecting

bull Assessments like Predictive Index can help you identify

candidates who can balance out your team

bull Establish clear consistent candidate evaluation criteria for your

interviewers to adhere to as a part of a structured hiring process

bull Train your interviewers with proper interview prep material use

focus attributes to eliminate redundancy and require detailed

low-inference and objective interview notes for every attribute

assessed

bull Review all interview feedback ask probing questions about

vague or inferential comments and encourage interviewers to

anchor their decisions in the key takeaways of your interview

rubric

Hiring

bull Audit your compensation structure to ensure that salaries are at

market rate and determine your thresholds for salary negotiation

regardless of the candidate

bull Be transparent about your compensation philosophy and

consider not allowing anyone to negotiate compensation to

drive pay equity

bull Review comments from candidate surveys to measure candidate

experience and leverage the data to make iterations where

necessary throughout your process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 20

Creating attributes

Aim for at least 3ndash6 mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive

focus attributes per category for your scorecards Consider integrating

the SMART (Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-based)

framework to ensure your interviewers are enabled to measure what

matters

Building interview questions

Collaborate with hiring managers to design custom interview questions

for each attribute deemed necessary for success in the role Aligning

these questions to your scorecard focus attributes enables your

interviewers to make informed decisions that can more accurately

predict job performance

Establishing a decision-making framework

After developing your focus attributes and interview questions be sure

to define evaluation expectations for interview teams Ideally each

attribute-aligned question will include a specific rubric that outlines what

interviewers should look for in candidate answers and assessments

You can adapt this scorecard rating system to suit your company

Scorecard essentials for everyone

Scorecards are

fundamental to structured

hiring Consistent

candidate evaluation helps

mitigate interviewer bias

reduce total interview time

and drive a more evidence-

based decision framework

for selecting the right

talent

Herersquos a high-level

overview of scorecard

essentials

Strong yes is an exemplary response that clearly addresses each

element of the question with distinct examples (if appropriate)

Yes is a solid acceptable response that addresses most or all elements

of the question with clear examples

Mixed is an inconclusive response that may partially address the

question but does not provide the interviewer with evidence about the

candidatersquos capabilities A mixed rating does not equate to ldquoI donrsquot

knowrdquo ndash when an interviewer doesnrsquot have enough evidence they

should leave the attribute blank

No is an unacceptable response that ignores most or multiple

elements of the question

Strong no is an extremely unacceptable answer that doesnrsquot address

the question at all andor contains a comment that conflicts with your

companyrsquos culture Beyond that answers may blatantly disparage

others former employers communities etc

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 21

Part 4 For business leaders

Prioritizing DEampIForward-thinking business leaders (like you) are actively focused on

elevating their DEampI practices ndash not only to ensure that their teams

accurately reflect the demographics of their local population but also

to create a work environment that offers equitable opportunities where

people of all identities can thrive

Traditionally business leaders have looked to recruiting teams to

shoulder the work of diversifying the candidates moving through their

hiring pipelines However great business leaders understand that DEampI

is a company-wide commitment starting from the top ndash at Greenhouse

we call this the Talent Maker mindset

In a world where 57 of employees believe their companies should

improve diversity among their internal workforce and 86 of job

seekers actively seek out companies with diverse employee bases

proactively building inclusive hiring practices to allow for a better

diversity of hires isnrsquot just the right thing to do ndash itrsquos the smart thing

to do

McKinsey found that companies in the top quartile for racialethnic and

gender diversity were respectively 35 and 15 more likely to have

financial returns above the national median for their particular industry

That means being great at hiring today is about a lot more than how

quickly you make a hire Itrsquos also about exercising inclusive hiring

practices and having diversity on both sides of the interview process

among your interviewers and your candidates Itrsquos about business

leaders getting involved with DEampI to generate meaningful outcomes

No matter how valiantly a recruiter works to fill the top of a recruiting

funnel with underrepresented candidates if hiring managers donrsquot

similarly prioritize inclusive hiring those candidates will inevitably

leave the funnel ndash whether by choice or through the adverse impact of

unconscious bias

Letrsquos explore some of the ways that Talent Makers can boost DEampI in

their hiring strategies

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 22

Before focusing externally look internally at your own company

Diversifying your team isnrsquot only about bringing in a new hire who can

add a new perspective Itrsquos just as much about creating an environment

that allows that new hire to share their perspective and feel heard

Some leaders may skirt conversations around identity ndash by claiming to

be ldquocolorblindrdquo when it comes to race for example ndash but great leaders

lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each

employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

Ask questions

What does all this mean through the lens of hiring As you start

thinking about how to source underrepresented candidates answer

these questions

bull Why would a candidate from an underrepresented group want to

join your team

bull How would you articulate your commitment to supporting and

advocating for them as a manager

bull If you were releasing a public statement or articulating your

companyrsquos commitment to equity in response toin solidarity

with a societal movement how would you differentiate your

company from other organizations in a way thatrsquos authentic

bull More importantly how will you hold yourself accountable over

time for driving the changes you want to see

Next take a hard look at the demographics of your team Determine

the following

bull Which demographic groups ndash including but not limited to

gender raceethnicity sexual orientation industry experience

seniority education socioeconomic status and ability status ndash

are represented

bull Which groups are you lacking or are underrepresented

bull Look for patterns in the profiles of the people yoursquove hired up to

now ndash do they imply an inclination toward a certain personality

type background set of qualifications or even raceethnicity

bull If so how are you justifying that

Great leaders lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 23

bull Could you inadvertently be screening for privilege (think

preferred schools or degrees) rather than for ability and

potential

Have the conversation

Itrsquos time to invite your team into the conversation This can be the

uncomfortable part especially if yoursquore in an environment that

doesnrsquot have a precedent for such dialogues Actively sharing why

yoursquore prioritizing DEampI will signal its importance to your team help

address any discrepancies and start building the muscle for healthy

conversations on topics like race Yoursquoll also drive new awareness

and behaviors that can have outsized impacts on who you hire by

influencing your interview panels to be more open-minded and provide

better interviewing experiences to underrepresented candidates

Finally collaborate with your people operations or HR team to review

current department demographics based on self-reported employee

data This will lead to informed discussions about which groups to

focus on when diversifying hiring pipelines which ties back to your

goals around having better representation among your employees

Write your job descriptionsjob posts through an inclusive lens

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader

is a job description for a role on your team Itrsquos the first touchpoint

candidates have with your team and it directly impacts who does ndash

and doesnrsquot ndash engage in your interview process

Here are tips on how to make your job descriptions more inclusive ndash

and more attractive to the candidates yoursquore targeting

Identify and rework inherently biased language

Countless job descriptions contain language that is gendered which

can skew your talent pool before you even interact with candidates

Platforms like Textio leverage artificial intelligence to help remove

gender bias business jargon and other phrases that reinforce

stereotypes in written content

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader is a job description for a role on your team

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 24

Describe goals and growth opportunities

Focus on describing the exciting goals and clear objectives of the

job rather than listing day-to-day responsibilities that arenrsquot tied to

outcomes This will not only inspire candidates it will also help them

decide if what theyrsquoll own and learn in your job is aligned with their

career goals

Examples of unintentionally biased language

Masculine-tone

Exhaustive

Enforcement

Fearless

Feminine-tone

Transparent

Catalyst

In touch with

Textio writes ldquoA language pattern is considered gendered if it

statistically changes the proportion of men and women who respond

to a job post containing itrdquo Their research reveals that in jobs where

a man is hired the original job post averages almost twice as many

masculine-tone phrases as feminine In jobs where a woman is hired

Textio finds the exact opposite there are twice as many feminine-tone

phrases as masculine in the job post Here are a few common phrases

that exert this type of bias effect

bull What are the goals and outcomes you want this person to achieve

bull What are the success metrics being tracked and the desired outcomes

bull What does growth look like on your team when someone delivers

quarter over quarter

bull Who will this person be actively collaborating with

Questions to answer in your job description

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 25

Focus on skills over requirements

Carefully consider each requirement yoursquore adding to your job

description Can you shift your focus away from a specific number

of years of work experience or required degrees and move toward

a candidatersquos abilities Could you take it a step further and include

verbiage that encourages candidates to apply even if they might not

have all the necessary qualifications

Get other opinions

Continue to iterate and socialize your job description Share it with

someone whorsquos currently in the role or someone who represents an

underrepresented demographic group to learn if there are better ways to

position the content Incorporating feedback from different perspectives

is key to eliminating unintentional biases in the language

Use structured hiring to mitigate unconscious bias

Now that yoursquove communicated your focus on diversity and published

an inclusive job description you might think most of your work is

behind you After all isnrsquot the process mostly in your recruiterrsquos hands

from here Not just yet Once you have candidates entering your hiring

pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices

will really be put to the test

Consider adding an inclusivity statement

Is your job description unintentionally scaring candidates away

Research shows that women tend to only apply for jobs when they meet

100 of the requirements One way to encourage candidates from

diverse backgrounds to apply is by adding an inclusivity statement to

your list of qualifications Jobs are filled 6 faster when the description

includes an inclusion message or EEO statement Herersquos the Greenhouse

version (itrsquos the last item in the list of qualifications) ldquoYour own unique

talents If you donrsquot meet 100 of the qualifications outlined above tell

us why yoursquod be a great fit for this role in your cover letterrdquo

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 26

Here are a few important things to keep in mind to stay accountable to

your commitment to DEampI

Screen in over screening out

When reviewing resumes use the framework of screening in rather

than screening out While certain jobs will have hard requirements ndash an

engineer might need fluency in a certain coding language to perform in

their job ndash many employers are placing less emphasis on a strict set of

resume qualifications when determining who to move to the next stage

and thinking about how they can invest in training people who have

potential but donrsquot have specific qualifications

When conducting interviews many hiring managers get

understandably nervous when considering candidates from

backgrounds that are not currently represented on their team That

behavior is often grounded in similar-to-me bias and perpetuates

homogeneity Pay close attention to how you and your interviewers

react to historically underrepresented candidates and actively exercise

open-mindedness Your best hire may be the person who is different

from everyone else your team has hired in the past

Use the same criteria

To create an even playing field assess all candidates against the same

hiring criteria that yoursquove determined is necessary for the role which

is the core of structured hiring Similarly make sure each candidate is

answering the same interview questions from your interviewers This

allows your interviewers not only to focus on relevant areas to assess

but also to compare candidates in a data-driven and fair way in the

event yoursquore choosing between several finalists

Diversify your panel

Finally consider your interview panel Which demographic groups are

represented and which are not represented Do you have a panel of all

men Of all the same ethnicity or race Of all millennials If the answer

is yes to any of these scenarios how are you planning to address this

elephant in the room with candidates who identify differently Put

yourself in their shoes and be prepared to clearly explain why creating

a more diverse team is a priority for you

Once you have candidates entering your hiring pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices will really be put to the test

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 27

Measure wins by progress and improvements

If you donrsquot already have an extensive DEampI program at your

organization figuring out where to start can be challenging Who we

are informs everything we do ndash who we hire what we observe where

we live how we communicate ndash and it can be tough to know where to

focus when checking our own potential biases However starting with a

deep reflection of your hiring process is a way to take ownership of your

responsibility as a business leader to prioritize DEampI Your commitment

may not produce immediate results since company demographics

arenrsquot something that can change overnight but your efforts will drive

meaningful and positive change in the long run with respect to who you

hire and advocate for in your company

Own your influence As a leader you have the ability to influence others through your words

and actions Consider the ways you can demonstrate your commitment

to DEampI Here are some ideas to get you started

bull Sponsor an employee resource group and commit to helping

them achieve their goals

bull Attend diversity sourcing events and invite coworkers to join you

bull Refer candidates from overlookedunderrepresented groups to

open roles throughout your organization

bull Look for local organizations you can partner with ndash perhaps

you can sponsor a hackathon offer an internship or otherwise

support their mission

bull Ask for feedback and suggestions ndash your team might already

have some great ideas about how to prioritize DEampI

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 28

Part 5 For everyone

Creating an inclusive candidate experience to build stronger more diverse teamsEvery person in your company ndash regardless of their job title ndash can

contribute to inclusive hiring Whether theyrsquore making referrals

interviewing candidates or talking to prospects their actions can

have an impact on candidate experience Thatrsquos why itrsquos essential

to be intentional about the role everyone plays

Here are a few ways to create an inclusive candidate experience

Structured hiring

Structured hiring is an approach where selection decisions are

based on evidence not emotion Leaders align the role to a business

objective and build a rigorous and objective interview process

through conversations assignments and the like that can be used to

predict job performance Candidates are asked consistent questions

that connect back to specific attributes required for the role and

interviewers evaluate responses against a defined rating system in

the interview scorecard

In previous sections we covered how hiring managers and recruiters

can partner to implement structured hiring Remember that rolling

it out to your entire company will take time and effort Everyone

involved in the interview process will need to be trained on things

like how to conduct interviews take notes and score candidates

Consider integrating this training into new hire onboarding team

offsites or manager professional development to ensure everyone

stays up to date

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 29

Defining and hiring for culture add

Over the past several years wersquove seen companies move away

from assessing candidates on their ldquoculture fitrdquo because this term

can lead to homogeneous hiring But many companies still want

a way to determine whether candidates are aligned with their values

This is where ldquoculture addrdquo or values interviews can come into play

Culture-add interviews also give candidates the chance to meet

people from other teams and departments to get a broader sense of

your company culture

If culture-add interviews are part of your hiring process (or you want

them to be) yoursquoll want to consider the following

bull Who conducts culture-add interviews What is the selection

process like for identifying these interviewers within your

company and training them

bull Which questions does the culture-add interview cover How do

you define great acceptable and unacceptable answers

bull How often will you revisit and update this process

Hiring Maturity success story Neil Casey ThoughtWorks

In this limited podcast

series Greenhouse

President and Co-

founder Jon Stross sat

down with talent leaders

from leading companies

to discuss their Hiring

Maturity journeys Listen

in as Jon invites Neil

Casey Global Head of

Sourcing and Strategic

Hiring at ThoughtWorks

to discuss building an

inclusive hiring process

at scale

Explore the Greenhouse DEampI feature set

Take structured interviewing to the next level with solutions that enable

recruiters interviewers and hiring managers to operationalize and

scale fairer hiring practices Herersquos a brief overview of the Greenhouse

DEampI feature set

Data collection and reporting ndash Track self-reported applicant

demographic data throughout the hiring funnel (from sourcing

to offer) and measure pass-throughdrop-off rates

In-the-moment interventions ndash Reminders that nudge users to

slow down and avoid instinctive mental shortcuts that arenrsquot

rooted in evidence or tied to job-relevant criteria

Structured decision-making ndash Added guardrails that support

a more objective selection process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 30

Encouraging an inclusive approach to employee referrals

Employee referrals are a great way to get everyone involved in the

hiring process Itrsquos exciting to have a hand in shaping the future of your

company while helping someone in your network land their next role

But certain groups tend to benefit from referrals more than others

which can lead to more homogeneity

The good news is that referrals donrsquot automatically lead to

homogeneous hires according to research by DEampI consultancy

Paradigm They partnered with Pinterest to determine why employee

referrals tend to be homogenous Is it because peoplersquos networks

are truly that homogenous or is it due to pattern-matching bias

(employees are looking around at their coworkers and only thinking

of people who are similar to the existing team) Paradigm found that

when a leader asked employees to be more mindful about diversity

when offering referrals especially people of color and women it made

a tangible impact over the following six weeks So be sure to encourage

employees to consider diversity when making referrals

DonorsChoose takes a data-driven approach to DEampI in their hiring

DonorsChoosersquos challenge Develop a hiring process that aligns with

the organizationrsquos commitment to DEampI in their work in education

DonorsChoose has a high standard for their DEampI hiring efforts and

wanted to intentionally drive a more diverse candidate pool To do so

they had to prioritize gathering better data on diversity in their hiring

pools Without that data conversations between the People and Talent

team and hiring managers felt uninformed and ineffective

DonorsChoose wanted data at their fingertips to drive their DEampI

hiring efforts The Greenhouse DEampI feature set offered them a robust

set of tools Since turning on custom demographic reporting the

DonorsChoose team has seen an improvement and recognized that

now 58 of the candidates who have made it to the face-to-face

interview stage at DonorsChoose have identified as people of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 31

ConclusionWe recommend sitting with these strategies for a few days rather than

immediately jumping into action Take time to reflect on your next

steps and collaborate with your internal partners in order to create the

optimal DEampI hiring strategy for your company

Remember that when it comes to DEampI therersquos no ldquoend staterdquo to arrive

at Wersquore all on the same journey of curiosity listening progress and

discovery

If yoursquod like to do further reading or research on any of the topics we

covered wersquove curated a list of recommended reading for you

We are your partners and allies and stand beside you in this work and

will help you as best we can All of us at Greenhouse are committed to

bringing about lasting change and we will be your partner in creating

a more equitable hiring process so you can build more inclusive

stronger teams

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 32

Recommended reading

DEampI strategy Creating an Effective Diversity and Inclusion

Program

DEampI strategy Hiring Diverse Candidates is Not Enough ndash

Itrsquos About Keeping Them

DEampI strategy Toward a Racially Just Workplace

DEampI strategy Why So Many Organizations Stay White

DEampI strategy Do Your DampI Efforts Include People with

Disabilities

Hiring If Therersquos Only One Woman in Your Candidate

Pool Therersquos Statisically No Chance Shersquoll Be

Hired

Hiring A Data-Driven Approach to Hiring More

Diverse Talent

Hiring How to Alter Your Hiring Practices to Increase

Diversity

Hiring Research How Speech Patterns Lead to

Hiring Bias

Intersectionality Do Your Diversity Efforts Reflect the

Experiences of Women of Color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 33

Recommended reading (continued)

Sourcing Could This Be The Secret To Hiring More

Women And People Of Color

Sourcing Diversity Sourcing Strategy 3 LinkedIn

Search Tips from Boolean Master Glen

Cathey

Sourcing How to increase workplace diversity with

employee referrals

Unconscious bias Managing Unconscious Bias Strategies to

Manage Bias amp Build More Diverse Inclusive

Organizations

Unconscious bias 50 Ways to Fight Bias

Unconscious bias 12 Unconscious Bias Examples and How to

Avoid Them in the Workplace

Unconscious bias Harvard Project Implicit Association Tests

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 34

Greenhouse is the hiring software company

We help businesses be great at hiring through

our powerful hiring approach complete suite of

software and services and large partner ecosystem ndash

so businesses can hire for whatrsquos next

To learn more visit

greenhouseio

Page 6: eBook Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company

How much of a premium do recruiters at your

company place on recruiting talent from your

industry How might the lack of diversity in

your industry reduce the chances of building a

diverse pool

What does interviewer education look like at

your company right now Which components

are included What criteria must employees

meet to become eligible to interview

How does your company define and measure

interviewer effectiveness If an employee is

not meeting expectations what remediation

or learning opportunities does your team offer

to improve their skills in hiring

Which hiring source (referrals your career

page LinkedIn etc) has the highest yield

conversion of candidates you hire With

that source how does your recruiting team

integrate targeted marketing to communities

that are underrepresented in your company

How does your recruiting team engage with

employee attritionfirst-year churn data How

have you used it to refine your hiring (and

onboarding if your team owns it) process Do

you segment that data by demographic (race

gender etc) and if so how does that impact

your recruitment marketing or sourcing

strategy

How does your recruiting team determine

articulate and differentiate minimum and

preferred qualifications in your job posts

What did you learn from going through this exercise Does anything

jump out as a particular strength or area for improvement Use your

answers to launch conversations with others in your company who are

committed to DEampI

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 6

Part 2 For hiring managers and interviewers

Strengthening interviewing skills and questions Hiring managers play a critical role in recruiting Not only do you make

the final call about who gets hired but you also shape the approach to

interviewing and guide your team through the evaluation process

Have you ever received unclear or insufficient feedback from

interviewers Or feedback that wasnrsquot aligned with your expectations of

the interview focus

Using consistent questions and evaluation criteria significantly reduces

the likelihood that your interviewers will rely on snap decisions when

interviewing candidates This structured approach to hiring helps you

make more informed decisions about your next hire

We suggest the following approach

Step 1 Select the focus attributes yoursquod like

interviewers to assess

Step 2 Write custom questions that test for each

focus attribute

Step 3 Create rubrics for your interviewers to measure

the quality of a candidatersquos responses relative to

the scorecard

Step 4 Train your interviewers on taking notes that are

rooted in evidence not inference

Now letrsquos go through each of these steps with some examples to get

you started

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 7

Select the focus attributes yoursquod like interviewers to assess

What are the skills and qualities a candidate will need to be successful

in this role If itrsquos an existing role you may already have a clear idea If

itrsquos a new role you might need to start with your best guess based on

the responsibilities the role entails and refine it over time In either case

spend some time talking to members of your team your recruiting

partner and other company leaders to pinpoint the required skills

As a rule of thumb we recommend coming up with three to six

attributes per specific category such as cross-functional collaboration

people management and technical ability The SMART framework

(Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-based) is useful for

keeping interviewers on track

Step 2

Write custom questions that test for each focus attribute

Once you have your list of focus attributes yoursquoll want to write

questions that help interviewers test for those qualities

Pro tip

Instead of opting for

generic attributes

like ldquoorganizational

skillsrdquo consider more

targeted descriptions

like ldquomanaging multiple

prioritiesrdquo that clarify the

specific competency a

candidate would need to

be effective in the role

3Ps of interviewing We created the Purpose Process and People model to help categorize

interview questions into three tiers

Purpose questions help you identify what motivates a candidate

and assess alignment with your team andor companyrsquos values

Process questions help you measure how a candidate solves

problems thinks creatively and manages projects and deadlines

People questions help you determine how a candidate

would interact with others in your organization and how they

demonstrate emotional intelligence in the workplace

Step 1

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 8

How do you translate focus attributes into interview questions Look

for ways to dig in and get detailed information based on specific

situations

Here are a few examples to get the ball rolling We chose one attribute

for each of the 3 Ps learning and continuous improvement for Purpose

managing multiple priorities for Process and collaboration for People

with a set of sample questions for each attribute

Purpose ndash Identifying what motivates a candidate

Attribute Sample questions

Learning and continuous improvement

Name three things yoursquove done in the last few years to grow in your career

Describe a time when you proactively sought out feedback to improve your productivity or effectiveness in a role

bull What led you to seek that feedback

bull How did you determine the appropriate individuals to ask

bull How did you apply the feedback you received

bull How do you keep those learnings in mind in how you work today

Discuss an example of feedback you received that you did not agree with

bull What was the feedback

bull Why did you disagree

bull How did you communicate with the person that shared it with you

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 9

Process ndash Measuring how a candidate gets things done

Attribute Sample questions

Managing multiple priorities

Describe a time when you needed to delegate a project or task to someone on your team who you did not trust in order to prioritize something else on your list

bull What was the deliverable and why did you need to delegate it

bull What made you skeptical about this personrsquos ability to execute

bull How did you navigate the tradeoff between delegating and completing it on your own

Give me an example of a time when you needed to manage up because your workload had become unreasonable

bull What circumstances led to this

bull How did you negotiate which deliverables needed to be prioritized or shared with someone else

bull Did you encounter any pushback If so how did you manage it

Tell me about a time when you were trying to meet a deadline but were interrupted and did not make the deadline

bull How did you respond

People ndash Determining how a candidate interacts with others

Attribute Sample questions

Collaboration Describe a situation where you and your manager (or another leader at your company) disagreed on the approach to take on a project or deliverable

bull How did you evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of both approaches How did you know yours was the better option

bull How did you communicate your position to your manager How did they respond bull What was the outcome

Tell me about a time when you worked on a project and a peer was not meeting expectations What actions did you take

bull How did you balance the tradeoff between holding the person accountable and completing the work yourself

Share an example of a time when your emotional intelligence helped you in collaborating with someone who had a completely different communication style

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 10

Step 3

Create rubrics for your interviewers to measure the quality of a candidatersquos responses relative to the scorecard

Now that you have your focus attributes and interview questions

ready itrsquos time to consider how yoursquod like interviewers to score their

responses

This is the rating system we use at Greenhouse ndash feel free to make

changes or use it as is

We recommend creating rubrics for interviewers so they know how to

assess responses for every question they ask during the interview

Strong no No Mixed Yes Strong yes

1111

Herersquos an example rubric for assessing responses to ldquoTell me about

a time when you were communicating with someone and they didnrsquot

understand you What did you dordquo

Strong no No Mixed Yes Strong yes

Provides an unclear

description of

the relationship

dynamiccontext and

struggles to outline

their summary of

the situation to the

interviewer

Offers an indistinct

summary of the

intended message and

does not acknowledge

any unique relationship

dynamicsadded

context that may

have contributed to

the communication

breakdown

Does not take

accountability for

their role in the

communication

breakdown (for

example ldquoI donrsquot

see why they didnrsquot

understandrdquo) and has

not demonstrated how

they learned from this

situation for future

conversations with the

person or others in the

workplace

Offers a vague

depiction of the

situation (the message

they were looking to

convey the relationship

with the other person

and where the

miscommunication

occurred)

Provides a loose

outline of the steps

taken to identify a

plan to remedy the

communication

breakdown OR a

cursory summary of

what they learned from

the experience

Demonstrates empathy

for the other person

but does not leverage

it in articulating

their strategy

for revising their

approach for follow-up

conversations

Clearly defines the

intended vision of

the message for the

other person and

discusses wherehow

the message was lost in

translation

Acknowledges any

unique or relevant

relationship dynamics

that might have

contributed to the

message not being

clearly interpreted

Demonstrates empathy

in identifying the source

of the communication

breakdown and holds

self accountable

for identifying an

alternative way to

communicate with the

person

Clarifies any

subsequent steps

in preserving and

or growing the

relationship with

the person and

added measures

taken in adjusting

communication

(delivery style

approach) for other

conversations

Clearly defines the

intended vision of

the message for the

other person and

discusses wherehow

the message was lost in

translation

Acknowledges any

unique or relevant

relationship dynamics

that might have

contributed to the

message not being

clearly interpreted

Demonstrates empathy

in identifying the source

of the communication

breakdown and holds

self accountable

for identifying an

alternative way to

communicate with the

person

Clarifies any

subsequent steps

in preserving and

or growing the

relationship with

the person and

added measures

taken in adjusting

communication

(delivery style

approach) for other

conversations

Considers the

experience a learning

opportunity to iterate

and situate their

communication style to

match the expectations

of the audience

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 12

Step 4

Train your interviewers on taking notes that are rooted in evidence not inference

Finally yoursquoll need to hold interviewers accountable for capturing

detailed objective notes from every interview

Itrsquos important to note that without coaching interviewers probably

wonrsquot know how to do this You can help them by providing detailed

examples of what yoursquore looking for

Here are some sample scorecard notes

Rating Notes

Strong yes Lucia discussed her experience in her current role as Director of People where she is currently

responsible for recruitinghiring (8 roles to be filled within the next 2 months in their DC Ohio and

Atlanta markets) coordinating logistics (flights lodging meals programming) for an upcoming

national new hire orientation (15 attendees) and planning for the company-wide (150 ppl)

offsite retreat For hiring she mentioned how she schedules phone screens at various intervals

throughout the day and commits to taking notes on the call and scheduling next-round interviews

with hiring managers Structures days around certain ldquowork blocksrdquo where she knows what needs

to get done and will communicate if things are either taking longer than expected or if there are

roadblocks and collaborates as needed to find solutions Mentioned that she is a huge fan of

automation (Google Calendarrsquos DNS blocks) and keeps a scrolling list of to-do items Shared that

strong relationships with hiring managers made things a lot easier with schedulingprocess and

that the orientation went off without a hitch Team retreat was a multi-month effort and the team

enjoyed the experience more than the previous year both programmatically and logistically

Yes Joseacute shared about working as a Program Manager with a youth-development nonprofit and how

they were tapped to work on special projects from the Chief Program Officer on top of navigating

a complex situation with their school partner and how theyrsquove been ldquogetting their feet wetrdquo by

working with the development team on an upcoming funding proposal Their answers lacked

some detail (didnrsquot provide a backstory about the relationship with the school partner ldquothings

have always been tense but Irsquove been trying to remain positiverdquo) but were overall solid in how

theyrsquod tried to use time-tracking software to set alarms for when it was time to pivot and focus on

a different task They did mention that the team was short-staffed and that was why they decided

to step up and take on more responsibility even though they knew it would require additional work

on their end and being more organized Talked about how they have regular syncs with the CPO

to offer updates on their progress Also set up a weekly 2-hour block to work onedit the funding

proposal as theyrsquore interested in ldquodeveloping musclerdquo in fundraising

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 13

Mixed I gave Janet a ldquomixedrdquo here because I wasnrsquot convinced that her approach toward balancing

multiple projects was actually impactful or effective despite her laying out all the different steps

she took We talked about her experience as a second-year teacher (at a brand-new school)

juggling making parent calls grading lesson planning and her responsibilities as a self-appointed

sponsor for the schoolrsquos LGBTQ+ student association She talked about how she was able to use a

calendar and alerts in her phone but when probed admitted to having dropped a lot of balls with

grading student assignments since she was more focused on lesson planning and being present

for the student group Admitted that she could have done a much better job with balancing her

schedule and being more realistic with her bandwidth but also shared that she got feedback

from her Assistant Principal that she may need to scale back with the student group Again shersquos

capable of being proactive with taking on a lot but I donrsquot think I have enough evidence to say yes

or no on her ability to manage it all effectively and course correct as needed

No Morris shared an example of a time when as an Account Manager he had to navigate renewal

conversations with three different customers but spent the majority of the time discussing how

he wasnrsquot able to secure two of the renewals after focusing too heavily on one customer I probed

to learn more about his approachtechnique and he said that ldquoeverything was urgent so I didnrsquot

really have an opportunity to prioritize as much as I could haverdquo I probed more and learned that he

hadnrsquot responded to key emails from his customers and had assumed that since theyrsquod renewed

in the previous year that they would do so again Did admit to learning from the experience but Irsquom

not convinced that this example showcased his ability to do so with ease

Strong no Damon struggled to give a clear response but from what I could glean he has had a difficult

relationship with several hiring managers (HMs) in his most recent role as a full-cycle recruiter and

would often drop balls (forgetting to add notes double scheduling phone screens and not turning

around job posts quickly enough to match manager expectations) He mentioned one scenario

where he had challenges working with one HM and blamed them for the issue When I probed I

learned that Damon had neglected to ask about the candidatersquos salary requirements placing the

HM in a tough situation where they had to communicate that the candidatersquos expectations were

20 higher than the budgeted amount Damon attributed the breakdown as an ldquooversightrdquo and

shared that James (the HM) was ldquonot very likeable according to other recruiters that worked with

him beforerdquo and that he ldquoknew it would be an issuerdquo working with him on this new req

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 14

Sharing examples like these will help your team know what yoursquore

looking for Review interviewersrsquo feedback regularly Ask probing

questions about any comments that are vague or excessively

inferential Encourage them to anchor their decisions in the key

takeaways of your interview rubric

While the steps outlined above might be a pretty significant shift from

the way your team has been approaching interviewing making these

changes to your interview process can help mitigate bias and open the

door to qualified candidates from a broader range of backgrounds

Remember that you donrsquot have to do this all on your own ndash your

recruiters are your partners throughout this process Be sure to seek

their advice and input on attributes interview questions decision-

making criteria and any other area where you need a little extra

support

Pro tip

Encourage interviewers

to structure their

conversations with brief

intros (the longer the

intro the greater the

odds that an interviewer

will base their decision

on likability rather than

merit) Explain to your

team that they are

evaluating candidates

based on what they

can contribute not

popularity

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 15

Part 3 For recruiting teams

Recognizing and addressing biased behaviors in hiringAs a recruiter yoursquore responsible for the tools and processes that

shape hiring in your organization And when your company commits

to inclusive hiring a hefty portion of the responsibility will also fall on

your plate

Promoting inclusion often begins by looking at your hiring process

and putting systems in place to mitigate bias When you limit the role

bias plays in decision-making you can open the door to candidates

from traditionally underrepresented groups

In this section wersquoll offer a broad overview of how to recognize and

address bias in hiring

Recognizing biased behaviors in hiring

How can recruiters help their organizations mitigate bias in the hiring

process You can start by understanding when and where bias is likely

to pop up Wersquove summarized some of the research and collected a few

resources to help you begin your exploration of this topic

As you read through the points on the next page do any problematic

aspects of your existing process surface If so make a note to dive

deeper into those topics Wersquoll share some ideas in the next few

sections to give you a jumping-off point

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 16

bull Jargon and superficial language in job posts can

discourage women from applying and perpetuate inequality

bull Over-indexing on referrals from a homogenous workforce

(typically with less-diverse networks) can close the door for

people of color and women

bull Measuring talent through academic or employer history (both

have low predictive validity on job performance) limits access

for candidates excluded from those networks

bull People of color and women are more likely to receive offers if

another finalist shares their identity

bull Low-diversity interview teams may signal larger issues for

candidates from underrepresented groups

bull Resumes with more ldquowhite-soundingrdquo names are more likely to

be advanced in the hiring process

bull Candidates are often evaluated on their perceived ease in

assimilating or fitting into the culture rather than their capacity

to perform in the role and add to the companyrsquos culture

bull Traditional unstructured interviews are highly vulnerable to

bias ndash without consistent criteria or rubrics poorly trained

interviewers make impulse-driven decisions when evaluating

candidates

bull Interview notes are often scant high-inference or based on

likability rather than objective with examples that validate

advancement or rejection

bull Gender pay gaps persist in part because women fear reprisal for

initiating salary negotiation (from other women and men) and

compensation disparities are even wider for women of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 17

Addressing biased behaviors

Bias is a mental algorithm that can be disrupted through conscious

behavior change Effective and inclusive hiring isnrsquot so much a skill as

it is a collection of habits that can enable more inclusive outcomes and

change company cultures

Here are some practical steps you can take and tools to try out based

on the observations you noted earlier Wersquove divided these tips by

pipeline stage (sourcing screening selecting and hiring)

Sourcing

bull Clarify the attributes yoursquore looking for (capabilities performance

objectives etc) during your kickoff meeting using a structured

hiring template

bull Consider partnering with text-augmenting software like Textio

TapRecruit or Gender Decoder to expose and change the words

that may disrupt diversity at the top of your funnel

bull Solicit referrals for underrepresented talent (with added financial

incentive if possible) as an important DEampI initiative that can

also lead to greater retention and lower reports of workplace

inequity

bull The recruiting platform Gem recommends using diversity salient

strategies like targeting talent from bootcamps or affinity-based

organizations like TransTech Social and the National Society of

Black Engineers

bull Audit your job posts to determine which requirements are

essential and which are extraneous remove jargon and focus on

producing (and disseminating) content that appeals to the widest

net possible

bull Use Boolean searches in LinkedIn to find overlooked talent

by searching for alumni of colleges with high diversity indices

or affinity-based organizations like fraternities sororities and

cultural interest groups

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 18

A simple structured hiring template

Want to add more structure

to your hiring process

Here are a few questions

and points to consider next

time you open a new role

Who are you trying to hire

bull Role name

bull Department

bull Who will this person report to

bull What business objectives are you trying to meet with this role

How will you evaluate the candidate

bull Skills

bull Personality traits

bull Qualifications

What will the interview process look like

bull Define the interview stages (application review phone screen

hiring manager interview etc)

bull Decide which qualities will be assessed in each stage

bull Plan out the questions or assessments for each quality

Screening

bull Based on your structured hiring template design an effective

scorecard and create clear evaluation criteria that your

interviewers can discuss in their roundups to make informed

objective decisions when assessing candidates (see page 21 for

a quick introduction to scorecards)

bull Ensure your focus attributes are specific measurable attainable

and relevant to the role(s) yoursquore recruiting for

bull Consider integrating your companyrsquos performance management

competencies (if possible) when determining focus attributes if

you have difficulty developing new ones

bull Using the performance outcomes for the role develop a bank

of behavioral and situational interview questions that match the

complexity of the role

bull Define the range of answers for your questions from exemplary

to unacceptable and train your interviewers on how to document

their feedback in the scorecard

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 19

bull Mitigate opportunities for late-stage interviewers to be

influencedbiased by previously submitted scorecards

bull Train members of employee resource groups (ERGs) to

participate as interviewers to ensure a balance of perspectives

bull Evaluate whether leveraging skills-based hiring makes sense for

your company

bull Work samples or assessments have the highest predictive

validity for job performance and grading them anonymously can

help mitigate bias

Selecting

bull Assessments like Predictive Index can help you identify

candidates who can balance out your team

bull Establish clear consistent candidate evaluation criteria for your

interviewers to adhere to as a part of a structured hiring process

bull Train your interviewers with proper interview prep material use

focus attributes to eliminate redundancy and require detailed

low-inference and objective interview notes for every attribute

assessed

bull Review all interview feedback ask probing questions about

vague or inferential comments and encourage interviewers to

anchor their decisions in the key takeaways of your interview

rubric

Hiring

bull Audit your compensation structure to ensure that salaries are at

market rate and determine your thresholds for salary negotiation

regardless of the candidate

bull Be transparent about your compensation philosophy and

consider not allowing anyone to negotiate compensation to

drive pay equity

bull Review comments from candidate surveys to measure candidate

experience and leverage the data to make iterations where

necessary throughout your process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 20

Creating attributes

Aim for at least 3ndash6 mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive

focus attributes per category for your scorecards Consider integrating

the SMART (Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-based)

framework to ensure your interviewers are enabled to measure what

matters

Building interview questions

Collaborate with hiring managers to design custom interview questions

for each attribute deemed necessary for success in the role Aligning

these questions to your scorecard focus attributes enables your

interviewers to make informed decisions that can more accurately

predict job performance

Establishing a decision-making framework

After developing your focus attributes and interview questions be sure

to define evaluation expectations for interview teams Ideally each

attribute-aligned question will include a specific rubric that outlines what

interviewers should look for in candidate answers and assessments

You can adapt this scorecard rating system to suit your company

Scorecard essentials for everyone

Scorecards are

fundamental to structured

hiring Consistent

candidate evaluation helps

mitigate interviewer bias

reduce total interview time

and drive a more evidence-

based decision framework

for selecting the right

talent

Herersquos a high-level

overview of scorecard

essentials

Strong yes is an exemplary response that clearly addresses each

element of the question with distinct examples (if appropriate)

Yes is a solid acceptable response that addresses most or all elements

of the question with clear examples

Mixed is an inconclusive response that may partially address the

question but does not provide the interviewer with evidence about the

candidatersquos capabilities A mixed rating does not equate to ldquoI donrsquot

knowrdquo ndash when an interviewer doesnrsquot have enough evidence they

should leave the attribute blank

No is an unacceptable response that ignores most or multiple

elements of the question

Strong no is an extremely unacceptable answer that doesnrsquot address

the question at all andor contains a comment that conflicts with your

companyrsquos culture Beyond that answers may blatantly disparage

others former employers communities etc

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 21

Part 4 For business leaders

Prioritizing DEampIForward-thinking business leaders (like you) are actively focused on

elevating their DEampI practices ndash not only to ensure that their teams

accurately reflect the demographics of their local population but also

to create a work environment that offers equitable opportunities where

people of all identities can thrive

Traditionally business leaders have looked to recruiting teams to

shoulder the work of diversifying the candidates moving through their

hiring pipelines However great business leaders understand that DEampI

is a company-wide commitment starting from the top ndash at Greenhouse

we call this the Talent Maker mindset

In a world where 57 of employees believe their companies should

improve diversity among their internal workforce and 86 of job

seekers actively seek out companies with diverse employee bases

proactively building inclusive hiring practices to allow for a better

diversity of hires isnrsquot just the right thing to do ndash itrsquos the smart thing

to do

McKinsey found that companies in the top quartile for racialethnic and

gender diversity were respectively 35 and 15 more likely to have

financial returns above the national median for their particular industry

That means being great at hiring today is about a lot more than how

quickly you make a hire Itrsquos also about exercising inclusive hiring

practices and having diversity on both sides of the interview process

among your interviewers and your candidates Itrsquos about business

leaders getting involved with DEampI to generate meaningful outcomes

No matter how valiantly a recruiter works to fill the top of a recruiting

funnel with underrepresented candidates if hiring managers donrsquot

similarly prioritize inclusive hiring those candidates will inevitably

leave the funnel ndash whether by choice or through the adverse impact of

unconscious bias

Letrsquos explore some of the ways that Talent Makers can boost DEampI in

their hiring strategies

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 22

Before focusing externally look internally at your own company

Diversifying your team isnrsquot only about bringing in a new hire who can

add a new perspective Itrsquos just as much about creating an environment

that allows that new hire to share their perspective and feel heard

Some leaders may skirt conversations around identity ndash by claiming to

be ldquocolorblindrdquo when it comes to race for example ndash but great leaders

lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each

employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

Ask questions

What does all this mean through the lens of hiring As you start

thinking about how to source underrepresented candidates answer

these questions

bull Why would a candidate from an underrepresented group want to

join your team

bull How would you articulate your commitment to supporting and

advocating for them as a manager

bull If you were releasing a public statement or articulating your

companyrsquos commitment to equity in response toin solidarity

with a societal movement how would you differentiate your

company from other organizations in a way thatrsquos authentic

bull More importantly how will you hold yourself accountable over

time for driving the changes you want to see

Next take a hard look at the demographics of your team Determine

the following

bull Which demographic groups ndash including but not limited to

gender raceethnicity sexual orientation industry experience

seniority education socioeconomic status and ability status ndash

are represented

bull Which groups are you lacking or are underrepresented

bull Look for patterns in the profiles of the people yoursquove hired up to

now ndash do they imply an inclination toward a certain personality

type background set of qualifications or even raceethnicity

bull If so how are you justifying that

Great leaders lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 23

bull Could you inadvertently be screening for privilege (think

preferred schools or degrees) rather than for ability and

potential

Have the conversation

Itrsquos time to invite your team into the conversation This can be the

uncomfortable part especially if yoursquore in an environment that

doesnrsquot have a precedent for such dialogues Actively sharing why

yoursquore prioritizing DEampI will signal its importance to your team help

address any discrepancies and start building the muscle for healthy

conversations on topics like race Yoursquoll also drive new awareness

and behaviors that can have outsized impacts on who you hire by

influencing your interview panels to be more open-minded and provide

better interviewing experiences to underrepresented candidates

Finally collaborate with your people operations or HR team to review

current department demographics based on self-reported employee

data This will lead to informed discussions about which groups to

focus on when diversifying hiring pipelines which ties back to your

goals around having better representation among your employees

Write your job descriptionsjob posts through an inclusive lens

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader

is a job description for a role on your team Itrsquos the first touchpoint

candidates have with your team and it directly impacts who does ndash

and doesnrsquot ndash engage in your interview process

Here are tips on how to make your job descriptions more inclusive ndash

and more attractive to the candidates yoursquore targeting

Identify and rework inherently biased language

Countless job descriptions contain language that is gendered which

can skew your talent pool before you even interact with candidates

Platforms like Textio leverage artificial intelligence to help remove

gender bias business jargon and other phrases that reinforce

stereotypes in written content

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader is a job description for a role on your team

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 24

Describe goals and growth opportunities

Focus on describing the exciting goals and clear objectives of the

job rather than listing day-to-day responsibilities that arenrsquot tied to

outcomes This will not only inspire candidates it will also help them

decide if what theyrsquoll own and learn in your job is aligned with their

career goals

Examples of unintentionally biased language

Masculine-tone

Exhaustive

Enforcement

Fearless

Feminine-tone

Transparent

Catalyst

In touch with

Textio writes ldquoA language pattern is considered gendered if it

statistically changes the proportion of men and women who respond

to a job post containing itrdquo Their research reveals that in jobs where

a man is hired the original job post averages almost twice as many

masculine-tone phrases as feminine In jobs where a woman is hired

Textio finds the exact opposite there are twice as many feminine-tone

phrases as masculine in the job post Here are a few common phrases

that exert this type of bias effect

bull What are the goals and outcomes you want this person to achieve

bull What are the success metrics being tracked and the desired outcomes

bull What does growth look like on your team when someone delivers

quarter over quarter

bull Who will this person be actively collaborating with

Questions to answer in your job description

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 25

Focus on skills over requirements

Carefully consider each requirement yoursquore adding to your job

description Can you shift your focus away from a specific number

of years of work experience or required degrees and move toward

a candidatersquos abilities Could you take it a step further and include

verbiage that encourages candidates to apply even if they might not

have all the necessary qualifications

Get other opinions

Continue to iterate and socialize your job description Share it with

someone whorsquos currently in the role or someone who represents an

underrepresented demographic group to learn if there are better ways to

position the content Incorporating feedback from different perspectives

is key to eliminating unintentional biases in the language

Use structured hiring to mitigate unconscious bias

Now that yoursquove communicated your focus on diversity and published

an inclusive job description you might think most of your work is

behind you After all isnrsquot the process mostly in your recruiterrsquos hands

from here Not just yet Once you have candidates entering your hiring

pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices

will really be put to the test

Consider adding an inclusivity statement

Is your job description unintentionally scaring candidates away

Research shows that women tend to only apply for jobs when they meet

100 of the requirements One way to encourage candidates from

diverse backgrounds to apply is by adding an inclusivity statement to

your list of qualifications Jobs are filled 6 faster when the description

includes an inclusion message or EEO statement Herersquos the Greenhouse

version (itrsquos the last item in the list of qualifications) ldquoYour own unique

talents If you donrsquot meet 100 of the qualifications outlined above tell

us why yoursquod be a great fit for this role in your cover letterrdquo

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 26

Here are a few important things to keep in mind to stay accountable to

your commitment to DEampI

Screen in over screening out

When reviewing resumes use the framework of screening in rather

than screening out While certain jobs will have hard requirements ndash an

engineer might need fluency in a certain coding language to perform in

their job ndash many employers are placing less emphasis on a strict set of

resume qualifications when determining who to move to the next stage

and thinking about how they can invest in training people who have

potential but donrsquot have specific qualifications

When conducting interviews many hiring managers get

understandably nervous when considering candidates from

backgrounds that are not currently represented on their team That

behavior is often grounded in similar-to-me bias and perpetuates

homogeneity Pay close attention to how you and your interviewers

react to historically underrepresented candidates and actively exercise

open-mindedness Your best hire may be the person who is different

from everyone else your team has hired in the past

Use the same criteria

To create an even playing field assess all candidates against the same

hiring criteria that yoursquove determined is necessary for the role which

is the core of structured hiring Similarly make sure each candidate is

answering the same interview questions from your interviewers This

allows your interviewers not only to focus on relevant areas to assess

but also to compare candidates in a data-driven and fair way in the

event yoursquore choosing between several finalists

Diversify your panel

Finally consider your interview panel Which demographic groups are

represented and which are not represented Do you have a panel of all

men Of all the same ethnicity or race Of all millennials If the answer

is yes to any of these scenarios how are you planning to address this

elephant in the room with candidates who identify differently Put

yourself in their shoes and be prepared to clearly explain why creating

a more diverse team is a priority for you

Once you have candidates entering your hiring pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices will really be put to the test

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 27

Measure wins by progress and improvements

If you donrsquot already have an extensive DEampI program at your

organization figuring out where to start can be challenging Who we

are informs everything we do ndash who we hire what we observe where

we live how we communicate ndash and it can be tough to know where to

focus when checking our own potential biases However starting with a

deep reflection of your hiring process is a way to take ownership of your

responsibility as a business leader to prioritize DEampI Your commitment

may not produce immediate results since company demographics

arenrsquot something that can change overnight but your efforts will drive

meaningful and positive change in the long run with respect to who you

hire and advocate for in your company

Own your influence As a leader you have the ability to influence others through your words

and actions Consider the ways you can demonstrate your commitment

to DEampI Here are some ideas to get you started

bull Sponsor an employee resource group and commit to helping

them achieve their goals

bull Attend diversity sourcing events and invite coworkers to join you

bull Refer candidates from overlookedunderrepresented groups to

open roles throughout your organization

bull Look for local organizations you can partner with ndash perhaps

you can sponsor a hackathon offer an internship or otherwise

support their mission

bull Ask for feedback and suggestions ndash your team might already

have some great ideas about how to prioritize DEampI

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 28

Part 5 For everyone

Creating an inclusive candidate experience to build stronger more diverse teamsEvery person in your company ndash regardless of their job title ndash can

contribute to inclusive hiring Whether theyrsquore making referrals

interviewing candidates or talking to prospects their actions can

have an impact on candidate experience Thatrsquos why itrsquos essential

to be intentional about the role everyone plays

Here are a few ways to create an inclusive candidate experience

Structured hiring

Structured hiring is an approach where selection decisions are

based on evidence not emotion Leaders align the role to a business

objective and build a rigorous and objective interview process

through conversations assignments and the like that can be used to

predict job performance Candidates are asked consistent questions

that connect back to specific attributes required for the role and

interviewers evaluate responses against a defined rating system in

the interview scorecard

In previous sections we covered how hiring managers and recruiters

can partner to implement structured hiring Remember that rolling

it out to your entire company will take time and effort Everyone

involved in the interview process will need to be trained on things

like how to conduct interviews take notes and score candidates

Consider integrating this training into new hire onboarding team

offsites or manager professional development to ensure everyone

stays up to date

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 29

Defining and hiring for culture add

Over the past several years wersquove seen companies move away

from assessing candidates on their ldquoculture fitrdquo because this term

can lead to homogeneous hiring But many companies still want

a way to determine whether candidates are aligned with their values

This is where ldquoculture addrdquo or values interviews can come into play

Culture-add interviews also give candidates the chance to meet

people from other teams and departments to get a broader sense of

your company culture

If culture-add interviews are part of your hiring process (or you want

them to be) yoursquoll want to consider the following

bull Who conducts culture-add interviews What is the selection

process like for identifying these interviewers within your

company and training them

bull Which questions does the culture-add interview cover How do

you define great acceptable and unacceptable answers

bull How often will you revisit and update this process

Hiring Maturity success story Neil Casey ThoughtWorks

In this limited podcast

series Greenhouse

President and Co-

founder Jon Stross sat

down with talent leaders

from leading companies

to discuss their Hiring

Maturity journeys Listen

in as Jon invites Neil

Casey Global Head of

Sourcing and Strategic

Hiring at ThoughtWorks

to discuss building an

inclusive hiring process

at scale

Explore the Greenhouse DEampI feature set

Take structured interviewing to the next level with solutions that enable

recruiters interviewers and hiring managers to operationalize and

scale fairer hiring practices Herersquos a brief overview of the Greenhouse

DEampI feature set

Data collection and reporting ndash Track self-reported applicant

demographic data throughout the hiring funnel (from sourcing

to offer) and measure pass-throughdrop-off rates

In-the-moment interventions ndash Reminders that nudge users to

slow down and avoid instinctive mental shortcuts that arenrsquot

rooted in evidence or tied to job-relevant criteria

Structured decision-making ndash Added guardrails that support

a more objective selection process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 30

Encouraging an inclusive approach to employee referrals

Employee referrals are a great way to get everyone involved in the

hiring process Itrsquos exciting to have a hand in shaping the future of your

company while helping someone in your network land their next role

But certain groups tend to benefit from referrals more than others

which can lead to more homogeneity

The good news is that referrals donrsquot automatically lead to

homogeneous hires according to research by DEampI consultancy

Paradigm They partnered with Pinterest to determine why employee

referrals tend to be homogenous Is it because peoplersquos networks

are truly that homogenous or is it due to pattern-matching bias

(employees are looking around at their coworkers and only thinking

of people who are similar to the existing team) Paradigm found that

when a leader asked employees to be more mindful about diversity

when offering referrals especially people of color and women it made

a tangible impact over the following six weeks So be sure to encourage

employees to consider diversity when making referrals

DonorsChoose takes a data-driven approach to DEampI in their hiring

DonorsChoosersquos challenge Develop a hiring process that aligns with

the organizationrsquos commitment to DEampI in their work in education

DonorsChoose has a high standard for their DEampI hiring efforts and

wanted to intentionally drive a more diverse candidate pool To do so

they had to prioritize gathering better data on diversity in their hiring

pools Without that data conversations between the People and Talent

team and hiring managers felt uninformed and ineffective

DonorsChoose wanted data at their fingertips to drive their DEampI

hiring efforts The Greenhouse DEampI feature set offered them a robust

set of tools Since turning on custom demographic reporting the

DonorsChoose team has seen an improvement and recognized that

now 58 of the candidates who have made it to the face-to-face

interview stage at DonorsChoose have identified as people of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 31

ConclusionWe recommend sitting with these strategies for a few days rather than

immediately jumping into action Take time to reflect on your next

steps and collaborate with your internal partners in order to create the

optimal DEampI hiring strategy for your company

Remember that when it comes to DEampI therersquos no ldquoend staterdquo to arrive

at Wersquore all on the same journey of curiosity listening progress and

discovery

If yoursquod like to do further reading or research on any of the topics we

covered wersquove curated a list of recommended reading for you

We are your partners and allies and stand beside you in this work and

will help you as best we can All of us at Greenhouse are committed to

bringing about lasting change and we will be your partner in creating

a more equitable hiring process so you can build more inclusive

stronger teams

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 32

Recommended reading

DEampI strategy Creating an Effective Diversity and Inclusion

Program

DEampI strategy Hiring Diverse Candidates is Not Enough ndash

Itrsquos About Keeping Them

DEampI strategy Toward a Racially Just Workplace

DEampI strategy Why So Many Organizations Stay White

DEampI strategy Do Your DampI Efforts Include People with

Disabilities

Hiring If Therersquos Only One Woman in Your Candidate

Pool Therersquos Statisically No Chance Shersquoll Be

Hired

Hiring A Data-Driven Approach to Hiring More

Diverse Talent

Hiring How to Alter Your Hiring Practices to Increase

Diversity

Hiring Research How Speech Patterns Lead to

Hiring Bias

Intersectionality Do Your Diversity Efforts Reflect the

Experiences of Women of Color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 33

Recommended reading (continued)

Sourcing Could This Be The Secret To Hiring More

Women And People Of Color

Sourcing Diversity Sourcing Strategy 3 LinkedIn

Search Tips from Boolean Master Glen

Cathey

Sourcing How to increase workplace diversity with

employee referrals

Unconscious bias Managing Unconscious Bias Strategies to

Manage Bias amp Build More Diverse Inclusive

Organizations

Unconscious bias 50 Ways to Fight Bias

Unconscious bias 12 Unconscious Bias Examples and How to

Avoid Them in the Workplace

Unconscious bias Harvard Project Implicit Association Tests

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 34

Greenhouse is the hiring software company

We help businesses be great at hiring through

our powerful hiring approach complete suite of

software and services and large partner ecosystem ndash

so businesses can hire for whatrsquos next

To learn more visit

greenhouseio

Page 7: eBook Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company

Part 2 For hiring managers and interviewers

Strengthening interviewing skills and questions Hiring managers play a critical role in recruiting Not only do you make

the final call about who gets hired but you also shape the approach to

interviewing and guide your team through the evaluation process

Have you ever received unclear or insufficient feedback from

interviewers Or feedback that wasnrsquot aligned with your expectations of

the interview focus

Using consistent questions and evaluation criteria significantly reduces

the likelihood that your interviewers will rely on snap decisions when

interviewing candidates This structured approach to hiring helps you

make more informed decisions about your next hire

We suggest the following approach

Step 1 Select the focus attributes yoursquod like

interviewers to assess

Step 2 Write custom questions that test for each

focus attribute

Step 3 Create rubrics for your interviewers to measure

the quality of a candidatersquos responses relative to

the scorecard

Step 4 Train your interviewers on taking notes that are

rooted in evidence not inference

Now letrsquos go through each of these steps with some examples to get

you started

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 7

Select the focus attributes yoursquod like interviewers to assess

What are the skills and qualities a candidate will need to be successful

in this role If itrsquos an existing role you may already have a clear idea If

itrsquos a new role you might need to start with your best guess based on

the responsibilities the role entails and refine it over time In either case

spend some time talking to members of your team your recruiting

partner and other company leaders to pinpoint the required skills

As a rule of thumb we recommend coming up with three to six

attributes per specific category such as cross-functional collaboration

people management and technical ability The SMART framework

(Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-based) is useful for

keeping interviewers on track

Step 2

Write custom questions that test for each focus attribute

Once you have your list of focus attributes yoursquoll want to write

questions that help interviewers test for those qualities

Pro tip

Instead of opting for

generic attributes

like ldquoorganizational

skillsrdquo consider more

targeted descriptions

like ldquomanaging multiple

prioritiesrdquo that clarify the

specific competency a

candidate would need to

be effective in the role

3Ps of interviewing We created the Purpose Process and People model to help categorize

interview questions into three tiers

Purpose questions help you identify what motivates a candidate

and assess alignment with your team andor companyrsquos values

Process questions help you measure how a candidate solves

problems thinks creatively and manages projects and deadlines

People questions help you determine how a candidate

would interact with others in your organization and how they

demonstrate emotional intelligence in the workplace

Step 1

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 8

How do you translate focus attributes into interview questions Look

for ways to dig in and get detailed information based on specific

situations

Here are a few examples to get the ball rolling We chose one attribute

for each of the 3 Ps learning and continuous improvement for Purpose

managing multiple priorities for Process and collaboration for People

with a set of sample questions for each attribute

Purpose ndash Identifying what motivates a candidate

Attribute Sample questions

Learning and continuous improvement

Name three things yoursquove done in the last few years to grow in your career

Describe a time when you proactively sought out feedback to improve your productivity or effectiveness in a role

bull What led you to seek that feedback

bull How did you determine the appropriate individuals to ask

bull How did you apply the feedback you received

bull How do you keep those learnings in mind in how you work today

Discuss an example of feedback you received that you did not agree with

bull What was the feedback

bull Why did you disagree

bull How did you communicate with the person that shared it with you

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 9

Process ndash Measuring how a candidate gets things done

Attribute Sample questions

Managing multiple priorities

Describe a time when you needed to delegate a project or task to someone on your team who you did not trust in order to prioritize something else on your list

bull What was the deliverable and why did you need to delegate it

bull What made you skeptical about this personrsquos ability to execute

bull How did you navigate the tradeoff between delegating and completing it on your own

Give me an example of a time when you needed to manage up because your workload had become unreasonable

bull What circumstances led to this

bull How did you negotiate which deliverables needed to be prioritized or shared with someone else

bull Did you encounter any pushback If so how did you manage it

Tell me about a time when you were trying to meet a deadline but were interrupted and did not make the deadline

bull How did you respond

People ndash Determining how a candidate interacts with others

Attribute Sample questions

Collaboration Describe a situation where you and your manager (or another leader at your company) disagreed on the approach to take on a project or deliverable

bull How did you evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of both approaches How did you know yours was the better option

bull How did you communicate your position to your manager How did they respond bull What was the outcome

Tell me about a time when you worked on a project and a peer was not meeting expectations What actions did you take

bull How did you balance the tradeoff between holding the person accountable and completing the work yourself

Share an example of a time when your emotional intelligence helped you in collaborating with someone who had a completely different communication style

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 10

Step 3

Create rubrics for your interviewers to measure the quality of a candidatersquos responses relative to the scorecard

Now that you have your focus attributes and interview questions

ready itrsquos time to consider how yoursquod like interviewers to score their

responses

This is the rating system we use at Greenhouse ndash feel free to make

changes or use it as is

We recommend creating rubrics for interviewers so they know how to

assess responses for every question they ask during the interview

Strong no No Mixed Yes Strong yes

1111

Herersquos an example rubric for assessing responses to ldquoTell me about

a time when you were communicating with someone and they didnrsquot

understand you What did you dordquo

Strong no No Mixed Yes Strong yes

Provides an unclear

description of

the relationship

dynamiccontext and

struggles to outline

their summary of

the situation to the

interviewer

Offers an indistinct

summary of the

intended message and

does not acknowledge

any unique relationship

dynamicsadded

context that may

have contributed to

the communication

breakdown

Does not take

accountability for

their role in the

communication

breakdown (for

example ldquoI donrsquot

see why they didnrsquot

understandrdquo) and has

not demonstrated how

they learned from this

situation for future

conversations with the

person or others in the

workplace

Offers a vague

depiction of the

situation (the message

they were looking to

convey the relationship

with the other person

and where the

miscommunication

occurred)

Provides a loose

outline of the steps

taken to identify a

plan to remedy the

communication

breakdown OR a

cursory summary of

what they learned from

the experience

Demonstrates empathy

for the other person

but does not leverage

it in articulating

their strategy

for revising their

approach for follow-up

conversations

Clearly defines the

intended vision of

the message for the

other person and

discusses wherehow

the message was lost in

translation

Acknowledges any

unique or relevant

relationship dynamics

that might have

contributed to the

message not being

clearly interpreted

Demonstrates empathy

in identifying the source

of the communication

breakdown and holds

self accountable

for identifying an

alternative way to

communicate with the

person

Clarifies any

subsequent steps

in preserving and

or growing the

relationship with

the person and

added measures

taken in adjusting

communication

(delivery style

approach) for other

conversations

Clearly defines the

intended vision of

the message for the

other person and

discusses wherehow

the message was lost in

translation

Acknowledges any

unique or relevant

relationship dynamics

that might have

contributed to the

message not being

clearly interpreted

Demonstrates empathy

in identifying the source

of the communication

breakdown and holds

self accountable

for identifying an

alternative way to

communicate with the

person

Clarifies any

subsequent steps

in preserving and

or growing the

relationship with

the person and

added measures

taken in adjusting

communication

(delivery style

approach) for other

conversations

Considers the

experience a learning

opportunity to iterate

and situate their

communication style to

match the expectations

of the audience

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 12

Step 4

Train your interviewers on taking notes that are rooted in evidence not inference

Finally yoursquoll need to hold interviewers accountable for capturing

detailed objective notes from every interview

Itrsquos important to note that without coaching interviewers probably

wonrsquot know how to do this You can help them by providing detailed

examples of what yoursquore looking for

Here are some sample scorecard notes

Rating Notes

Strong yes Lucia discussed her experience in her current role as Director of People where she is currently

responsible for recruitinghiring (8 roles to be filled within the next 2 months in their DC Ohio and

Atlanta markets) coordinating logistics (flights lodging meals programming) for an upcoming

national new hire orientation (15 attendees) and planning for the company-wide (150 ppl)

offsite retreat For hiring she mentioned how she schedules phone screens at various intervals

throughout the day and commits to taking notes on the call and scheduling next-round interviews

with hiring managers Structures days around certain ldquowork blocksrdquo where she knows what needs

to get done and will communicate if things are either taking longer than expected or if there are

roadblocks and collaborates as needed to find solutions Mentioned that she is a huge fan of

automation (Google Calendarrsquos DNS blocks) and keeps a scrolling list of to-do items Shared that

strong relationships with hiring managers made things a lot easier with schedulingprocess and

that the orientation went off without a hitch Team retreat was a multi-month effort and the team

enjoyed the experience more than the previous year both programmatically and logistically

Yes Joseacute shared about working as a Program Manager with a youth-development nonprofit and how

they were tapped to work on special projects from the Chief Program Officer on top of navigating

a complex situation with their school partner and how theyrsquove been ldquogetting their feet wetrdquo by

working with the development team on an upcoming funding proposal Their answers lacked

some detail (didnrsquot provide a backstory about the relationship with the school partner ldquothings

have always been tense but Irsquove been trying to remain positiverdquo) but were overall solid in how

theyrsquod tried to use time-tracking software to set alarms for when it was time to pivot and focus on

a different task They did mention that the team was short-staffed and that was why they decided

to step up and take on more responsibility even though they knew it would require additional work

on their end and being more organized Talked about how they have regular syncs with the CPO

to offer updates on their progress Also set up a weekly 2-hour block to work onedit the funding

proposal as theyrsquore interested in ldquodeveloping musclerdquo in fundraising

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 13

Mixed I gave Janet a ldquomixedrdquo here because I wasnrsquot convinced that her approach toward balancing

multiple projects was actually impactful or effective despite her laying out all the different steps

she took We talked about her experience as a second-year teacher (at a brand-new school)

juggling making parent calls grading lesson planning and her responsibilities as a self-appointed

sponsor for the schoolrsquos LGBTQ+ student association She talked about how she was able to use a

calendar and alerts in her phone but when probed admitted to having dropped a lot of balls with

grading student assignments since she was more focused on lesson planning and being present

for the student group Admitted that she could have done a much better job with balancing her

schedule and being more realistic with her bandwidth but also shared that she got feedback

from her Assistant Principal that she may need to scale back with the student group Again shersquos

capable of being proactive with taking on a lot but I donrsquot think I have enough evidence to say yes

or no on her ability to manage it all effectively and course correct as needed

No Morris shared an example of a time when as an Account Manager he had to navigate renewal

conversations with three different customers but spent the majority of the time discussing how

he wasnrsquot able to secure two of the renewals after focusing too heavily on one customer I probed

to learn more about his approachtechnique and he said that ldquoeverything was urgent so I didnrsquot

really have an opportunity to prioritize as much as I could haverdquo I probed more and learned that he

hadnrsquot responded to key emails from his customers and had assumed that since theyrsquod renewed

in the previous year that they would do so again Did admit to learning from the experience but Irsquom

not convinced that this example showcased his ability to do so with ease

Strong no Damon struggled to give a clear response but from what I could glean he has had a difficult

relationship with several hiring managers (HMs) in his most recent role as a full-cycle recruiter and

would often drop balls (forgetting to add notes double scheduling phone screens and not turning

around job posts quickly enough to match manager expectations) He mentioned one scenario

where he had challenges working with one HM and blamed them for the issue When I probed I

learned that Damon had neglected to ask about the candidatersquos salary requirements placing the

HM in a tough situation where they had to communicate that the candidatersquos expectations were

20 higher than the budgeted amount Damon attributed the breakdown as an ldquooversightrdquo and

shared that James (the HM) was ldquonot very likeable according to other recruiters that worked with

him beforerdquo and that he ldquoknew it would be an issuerdquo working with him on this new req

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 14

Sharing examples like these will help your team know what yoursquore

looking for Review interviewersrsquo feedback regularly Ask probing

questions about any comments that are vague or excessively

inferential Encourage them to anchor their decisions in the key

takeaways of your interview rubric

While the steps outlined above might be a pretty significant shift from

the way your team has been approaching interviewing making these

changes to your interview process can help mitigate bias and open the

door to qualified candidates from a broader range of backgrounds

Remember that you donrsquot have to do this all on your own ndash your

recruiters are your partners throughout this process Be sure to seek

their advice and input on attributes interview questions decision-

making criteria and any other area where you need a little extra

support

Pro tip

Encourage interviewers

to structure their

conversations with brief

intros (the longer the

intro the greater the

odds that an interviewer

will base their decision

on likability rather than

merit) Explain to your

team that they are

evaluating candidates

based on what they

can contribute not

popularity

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 15

Part 3 For recruiting teams

Recognizing and addressing biased behaviors in hiringAs a recruiter yoursquore responsible for the tools and processes that

shape hiring in your organization And when your company commits

to inclusive hiring a hefty portion of the responsibility will also fall on

your plate

Promoting inclusion often begins by looking at your hiring process

and putting systems in place to mitigate bias When you limit the role

bias plays in decision-making you can open the door to candidates

from traditionally underrepresented groups

In this section wersquoll offer a broad overview of how to recognize and

address bias in hiring

Recognizing biased behaviors in hiring

How can recruiters help their organizations mitigate bias in the hiring

process You can start by understanding when and where bias is likely

to pop up Wersquove summarized some of the research and collected a few

resources to help you begin your exploration of this topic

As you read through the points on the next page do any problematic

aspects of your existing process surface If so make a note to dive

deeper into those topics Wersquoll share some ideas in the next few

sections to give you a jumping-off point

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 16

bull Jargon and superficial language in job posts can

discourage women from applying and perpetuate inequality

bull Over-indexing on referrals from a homogenous workforce

(typically with less-diverse networks) can close the door for

people of color and women

bull Measuring talent through academic or employer history (both

have low predictive validity on job performance) limits access

for candidates excluded from those networks

bull People of color and women are more likely to receive offers if

another finalist shares their identity

bull Low-diversity interview teams may signal larger issues for

candidates from underrepresented groups

bull Resumes with more ldquowhite-soundingrdquo names are more likely to

be advanced in the hiring process

bull Candidates are often evaluated on their perceived ease in

assimilating or fitting into the culture rather than their capacity

to perform in the role and add to the companyrsquos culture

bull Traditional unstructured interviews are highly vulnerable to

bias ndash without consistent criteria or rubrics poorly trained

interviewers make impulse-driven decisions when evaluating

candidates

bull Interview notes are often scant high-inference or based on

likability rather than objective with examples that validate

advancement or rejection

bull Gender pay gaps persist in part because women fear reprisal for

initiating salary negotiation (from other women and men) and

compensation disparities are even wider for women of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 17

Addressing biased behaviors

Bias is a mental algorithm that can be disrupted through conscious

behavior change Effective and inclusive hiring isnrsquot so much a skill as

it is a collection of habits that can enable more inclusive outcomes and

change company cultures

Here are some practical steps you can take and tools to try out based

on the observations you noted earlier Wersquove divided these tips by

pipeline stage (sourcing screening selecting and hiring)

Sourcing

bull Clarify the attributes yoursquore looking for (capabilities performance

objectives etc) during your kickoff meeting using a structured

hiring template

bull Consider partnering with text-augmenting software like Textio

TapRecruit or Gender Decoder to expose and change the words

that may disrupt diversity at the top of your funnel

bull Solicit referrals for underrepresented talent (with added financial

incentive if possible) as an important DEampI initiative that can

also lead to greater retention and lower reports of workplace

inequity

bull The recruiting platform Gem recommends using diversity salient

strategies like targeting talent from bootcamps or affinity-based

organizations like TransTech Social and the National Society of

Black Engineers

bull Audit your job posts to determine which requirements are

essential and which are extraneous remove jargon and focus on

producing (and disseminating) content that appeals to the widest

net possible

bull Use Boolean searches in LinkedIn to find overlooked talent

by searching for alumni of colleges with high diversity indices

or affinity-based organizations like fraternities sororities and

cultural interest groups

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 18

A simple structured hiring template

Want to add more structure

to your hiring process

Here are a few questions

and points to consider next

time you open a new role

Who are you trying to hire

bull Role name

bull Department

bull Who will this person report to

bull What business objectives are you trying to meet with this role

How will you evaluate the candidate

bull Skills

bull Personality traits

bull Qualifications

What will the interview process look like

bull Define the interview stages (application review phone screen

hiring manager interview etc)

bull Decide which qualities will be assessed in each stage

bull Plan out the questions or assessments for each quality

Screening

bull Based on your structured hiring template design an effective

scorecard and create clear evaluation criteria that your

interviewers can discuss in their roundups to make informed

objective decisions when assessing candidates (see page 21 for

a quick introduction to scorecards)

bull Ensure your focus attributes are specific measurable attainable

and relevant to the role(s) yoursquore recruiting for

bull Consider integrating your companyrsquos performance management

competencies (if possible) when determining focus attributes if

you have difficulty developing new ones

bull Using the performance outcomes for the role develop a bank

of behavioral and situational interview questions that match the

complexity of the role

bull Define the range of answers for your questions from exemplary

to unacceptable and train your interviewers on how to document

their feedback in the scorecard

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 19

bull Mitigate opportunities for late-stage interviewers to be

influencedbiased by previously submitted scorecards

bull Train members of employee resource groups (ERGs) to

participate as interviewers to ensure a balance of perspectives

bull Evaluate whether leveraging skills-based hiring makes sense for

your company

bull Work samples or assessments have the highest predictive

validity for job performance and grading them anonymously can

help mitigate bias

Selecting

bull Assessments like Predictive Index can help you identify

candidates who can balance out your team

bull Establish clear consistent candidate evaluation criteria for your

interviewers to adhere to as a part of a structured hiring process

bull Train your interviewers with proper interview prep material use

focus attributes to eliminate redundancy and require detailed

low-inference and objective interview notes for every attribute

assessed

bull Review all interview feedback ask probing questions about

vague or inferential comments and encourage interviewers to

anchor their decisions in the key takeaways of your interview

rubric

Hiring

bull Audit your compensation structure to ensure that salaries are at

market rate and determine your thresholds for salary negotiation

regardless of the candidate

bull Be transparent about your compensation philosophy and

consider not allowing anyone to negotiate compensation to

drive pay equity

bull Review comments from candidate surveys to measure candidate

experience and leverage the data to make iterations where

necessary throughout your process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 20

Creating attributes

Aim for at least 3ndash6 mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive

focus attributes per category for your scorecards Consider integrating

the SMART (Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-based)

framework to ensure your interviewers are enabled to measure what

matters

Building interview questions

Collaborate with hiring managers to design custom interview questions

for each attribute deemed necessary for success in the role Aligning

these questions to your scorecard focus attributes enables your

interviewers to make informed decisions that can more accurately

predict job performance

Establishing a decision-making framework

After developing your focus attributes and interview questions be sure

to define evaluation expectations for interview teams Ideally each

attribute-aligned question will include a specific rubric that outlines what

interviewers should look for in candidate answers and assessments

You can adapt this scorecard rating system to suit your company

Scorecard essentials for everyone

Scorecards are

fundamental to structured

hiring Consistent

candidate evaluation helps

mitigate interviewer bias

reduce total interview time

and drive a more evidence-

based decision framework

for selecting the right

talent

Herersquos a high-level

overview of scorecard

essentials

Strong yes is an exemplary response that clearly addresses each

element of the question with distinct examples (if appropriate)

Yes is a solid acceptable response that addresses most or all elements

of the question with clear examples

Mixed is an inconclusive response that may partially address the

question but does not provide the interviewer with evidence about the

candidatersquos capabilities A mixed rating does not equate to ldquoI donrsquot

knowrdquo ndash when an interviewer doesnrsquot have enough evidence they

should leave the attribute blank

No is an unacceptable response that ignores most or multiple

elements of the question

Strong no is an extremely unacceptable answer that doesnrsquot address

the question at all andor contains a comment that conflicts with your

companyrsquos culture Beyond that answers may blatantly disparage

others former employers communities etc

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 21

Part 4 For business leaders

Prioritizing DEampIForward-thinking business leaders (like you) are actively focused on

elevating their DEampI practices ndash not only to ensure that their teams

accurately reflect the demographics of their local population but also

to create a work environment that offers equitable opportunities where

people of all identities can thrive

Traditionally business leaders have looked to recruiting teams to

shoulder the work of diversifying the candidates moving through their

hiring pipelines However great business leaders understand that DEampI

is a company-wide commitment starting from the top ndash at Greenhouse

we call this the Talent Maker mindset

In a world where 57 of employees believe their companies should

improve diversity among their internal workforce and 86 of job

seekers actively seek out companies with diverse employee bases

proactively building inclusive hiring practices to allow for a better

diversity of hires isnrsquot just the right thing to do ndash itrsquos the smart thing

to do

McKinsey found that companies in the top quartile for racialethnic and

gender diversity were respectively 35 and 15 more likely to have

financial returns above the national median for their particular industry

That means being great at hiring today is about a lot more than how

quickly you make a hire Itrsquos also about exercising inclusive hiring

practices and having diversity on both sides of the interview process

among your interviewers and your candidates Itrsquos about business

leaders getting involved with DEampI to generate meaningful outcomes

No matter how valiantly a recruiter works to fill the top of a recruiting

funnel with underrepresented candidates if hiring managers donrsquot

similarly prioritize inclusive hiring those candidates will inevitably

leave the funnel ndash whether by choice or through the adverse impact of

unconscious bias

Letrsquos explore some of the ways that Talent Makers can boost DEampI in

their hiring strategies

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 22

Before focusing externally look internally at your own company

Diversifying your team isnrsquot only about bringing in a new hire who can

add a new perspective Itrsquos just as much about creating an environment

that allows that new hire to share their perspective and feel heard

Some leaders may skirt conversations around identity ndash by claiming to

be ldquocolorblindrdquo when it comes to race for example ndash but great leaders

lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each

employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

Ask questions

What does all this mean through the lens of hiring As you start

thinking about how to source underrepresented candidates answer

these questions

bull Why would a candidate from an underrepresented group want to

join your team

bull How would you articulate your commitment to supporting and

advocating for them as a manager

bull If you were releasing a public statement or articulating your

companyrsquos commitment to equity in response toin solidarity

with a societal movement how would you differentiate your

company from other organizations in a way thatrsquos authentic

bull More importantly how will you hold yourself accountable over

time for driving the changes you want to see

Next take a hard look at the demographics of your team Determine

the following

bull Which demographic groups ndash including but not limited to

gender raceethnicity sexual orientation industry experience

seniority education socioeconomic status and ability status ndash

are represented

bull Which groups are you lacking or are underrepresented

bull Look for patterns in the profiles of the people yoursquove hired up to

now ndash do they imply an inclination toward a certain personality

type background set of qualifications or even raceethnicity

bull If so how are you justifying that

Great leaders lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 23

bull Could you inadvertently be screening for privilege (think

preferred schools or degrees) rather than for ability and

potential

Have the conversation

Itrsquos time to invite your team into the conversation This can be the

uncomfortable part especially if yoursquore in an environment that

doesnrsquot have a precedent for such dialogues Actively sharing why

yoursquore prioritizing DEampI will signal its importance to your team help

address any discrepancies and start building the muscle for healthy

conversations on topics like race Yoursquoll also drive new awareness

and behaviors that can have outsized impacts on who you hire by

influencing your interview panels to be more open-minded and provide

better interviewing experiences to underrepresented candidates

Finally collaborate with your people operations or HR team to review

current department demographics based on self-reported employee

data This will lead to informed discussions about which groups to

focus on when diversifying hiring pipelines which ties back to your

goals around having better representation among your employees

Write your job descriptionsjob posts through an inclusive lens

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader

is a job description for a role on your team Itrsquos the first touchpoint

candidates have with your team and it directly impacts who does ndash

and doesnrsquot ndash engage in your interview process

Here are tips on how to make your job descriptions more inclusive ndash

and more attractive to the candidates yoursquore targeting

Identify and rework inherently biased language

Countless job descriptions contain language that is gendered which

can skew your talent pool before you even interact with candidates

Platforms like Textio leverage artificial intelligence to help remove

gender bias business jargon and other phrases that reinforce

stereotypes in written content

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader is a job description for a role on your team

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 24

Describe goals and growth opportunities

Focus on describing the exciting goals and clear objectives of the

job rather than listing day-to-day responsibilities that arenrsquot tied to

outcomes This will not only inspire candidates it will also help them

decide if what theyrsquoll own and learn in your job is aligned with their

career goals

Examples of unintentionally biased language

Masculine-tone

Exhaustive

Enforcement

Fearless

Feminine-tone

Transparent

Catalyst

In touch with

Textio writes ldquoA language pattern is considered gendered if it

statistically changes the proportion of men and women who respond

to a job post containing itrdquo Their research reveals that in jobs where

a man is hired the original job post averages almost twice as many

masculine-tone phrases as feminine In jobs where a woman is hired

Textio finds the exact opposite there are twice as many feminine-tone

phrases as masculine in the job post Here are a few common phrases

that exert this type of bias effect

bull What are the goals and outcomes you want this person to achieve

bull What are the success metrics being tracked and the desired outcomes

bull What does growth look like on your team when someone delivers

quarter over quarter

bull Who will this person be actively collaborating with

Questions to answer in your job description

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 25

Focus on skills over requirements

Carefully consider each requirement yoursquore adding to your job

description Can you shift your focus away from a specific number

of years of work experience or required degrees and move toward

a candidatersquos abilities Could you take it a step further and include

verbiage that encourages candidates to apply even if they might not

have all the necessary qualifications

Get other opinions

Continue to iterate and socialize your job description Share it with

someone whorsquos currently in the role or someone who represents an

underrepresented demographic group to learn if there are better ways to

position the content Incorporating feedback from different perspectives

is key to eliminating unintentional biases in the language

Use structured hiring to mitigate unconscious bias

Now that yoursquove communicated your focus on diversity and published

an inclusive job description you might think most of your work is

behind you After all isnrsquot the process mostly in your recruiterrsquos hands

from here Not just yet Once you have candidates entering your hiring

pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices

will really be put to the test

Consider adding an inclusivity statement

Is your job description unintentionally scaring candidates away

Research shows that women tend to only apply for jobs when they meet

100 of the requirements One way to encourage candidates from

diverse backgrounds to apply is by adding an inclusivity statement to

your list of qualifications Jobs are filled 6 faster when the description

includes an inclusion message or EEO statement Herersquos the Greenhouse

version (itrsquos the last item in the list of qualifications) ldquoYour own unique

talents If you donrsquot meet 100 of the qualifications outlined above tell

us why yoursquod be a great fit for this role in your cover letterrdquo

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 26

Here are a few important things to keep in mind to stay accountable to

your commitment to DEampI

Screen in over screening out

When reviewing resumes use the framework of screening in rather

than screening out While certain jobs will have hard requirements ndash an

engineer might need fluency in a certain coding language to perform in

their job ndash many employers are placing less emphasis on a strict set of

resume qualifications when determining who to move to the next stage

and thinking about how they can invest in training people who have

potential but donrsquot have specific qualifications

When conducting interviews many hiring managers get

understandably nervous when considering candidates from

backgrounds that are not currently represented on their team That

behavior is often grounded in similar-to-me bias and perpetuates

homogeneity Pay close attention to how you and your interviewers

react to historically underrepresented candidates and actively exercise

open-mindedness Your best hire may be the person who is different

from everyone else your team has hired in the past

Use the same criteria

To create an even playing field assess all candidates against the same

hiring criteria that yoursquove determined is necessary for the role which

is the core of structured hiring Similarly make sure each candidate is

answering the same interview questions from your interviewers This

allows your interviewers not only to focus on relevant areas to assess

but also to compare candidates in a data-driven and fair way in the

event yoursquore choosing between several finalists

Diversify your panel

Finally consider your interview panel Which demographic groups are

represented and which are not represented Do you have a panel of all

men Of all the same ethnicity or race Of all millennials If the answer

is yes to any of these scenarios how are you planning to address this

elephant in the room with candidates who identify differently Put

yourself in their shoes and be prepared to clearly explain why creating

a more diverse team is a priority for you

Once you have candidates entering your hiring pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices will really be put to the test

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 27

Measure wins by progress and improvements

If you donrsquot already have an extensive DEampI program at your

organization figuring out where to start can be challenging Who we

are informs everything we do ndash who we hire what we observe where

we live how we communicate ndash and it can be tough to know where to

focus when checking our own potential biases However starting with a

deep reflection of your hiring process is a way to take ownership of your

responsibility as a business leader to prioritize DEampI Your commitment

may not produce immediate results since company demographics

arenrsquot something that can change overnight but your efforts will drive

meaningful and positive change in the long run with respect to who you

hire and advocate for in your company

Own your influence As a leader you have the ability to influence others through your words

and actions Consider the ways you can demonstrate your commitment

to DEampI Here are some ideas to get you started

bull Sponsor an employee resource group and commit to helping

them achieve their goals

bull Attend diversity sourcing events and invite coworkers to join you

bull Refer candidates from overlookedunderrepresented groups to

open roles throughout your organization

bull Look for local organizations you can partner with ndash perhaps

you can sponsor a hackathon offer an internship or otherwise

support their mission

bull Ask for feedback and suggestions ndash your team might already

have some great ideas about how to prioritize DEampI

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 28

Part 5 For everyone

Creating an inclusive candidate experience to build stronger more diverse teamsEvery person in your company ndash regardless of their job title ndash can

contribute to inclusive hiring Whether theyrsquore making referrals

interviewing candidates or talking to prospects their actions can

have an impact on candidate experience Thatrsquos why itrsquos essential

to be intentional about the role everyone plays

Here are a few ways to create an inclusive candidate experience

Structured hiring

Structured hiring is an approach where selection decisions are

based on evidence not emotion Leaders align the role to a business

objective and build a rigorous and objective interview process

through conversations assignments and the like that can be used to

predict job performance Candidates are asked consistent questions

that connect back to specific attributes required for the role and

interviewers evaluate responses against a defined rating system in

the interview scorecard

In previous sections we covered how hiring managers and recruiters

can partner to implement structured hiring Remember that rolling

it out to your entire company will take time and effort Everyone

involved in the interview process will need to be trained on things

like how to conduct interviews take notes and score candidates

Consider integrating this training into new hire onboarding team

offsites or manager professional development to ensure everyone

stays up to date

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 29

Defining and hiring for culture add

Over the past several years wersquove seen companies move away

from assessing candidates on their ldquoculture fitrdquo because this term

can lead to homogeneous hiring But many companies still want

a way to determine whether candidates are aligned with their values

This is where ldquoculture addrdquo or values interviews can come into play

Culture-add interviews also give candidates the chance to meet

people from other teams and departments to get a broader sense of

your company culture

If culture-add interviews are part of your hiring process (or you want

them to be) yoursquoll want to consider the following

bull Who conducts culture-add interviews What is the selection

process like for identifying these interviewers within your

company and training them

bull Which questions does the culture-add interview cover How do

you define great acceptable and unacceptable answers

bull How often will you revisit and update this process

Hiring Maturity success story Neil Casey ThoughtWorks

In this limited podcast

series Greenhouse

President and Co-

founder Jon Stross sat

down with talent leaders

from leading companies

to discuss their Hiring

Maturity journeys Listen

in as Jon invites Neil

Casey Global Head of

Sourcing and Strategic

Hiring at ThoughtWorks

to discuss building an

inclusive hiring process

at scale

Explore the Greenhouse DEampI feature set

Take structured interviewing to the next level with solutions that enable

recruiters interviewers and hiring managers to operationalize and

scale fairer hiring practices Herersquos a brief overview of the Greenhouse

DEampI feature set

Data collection and reporting ndash Track self-reported applicant

demographic data throughout the hiring funnel (from sourcing

to offer) and measure pass-throughdrop-off rates

In-the-moment interventions ndash Reminders that nudge users to

slow down and avoid instinctive mental shortcuts that arenrsquot

rooted in evidence or tied to job-relevant criteria

Structured decision-making ndash Added guardrails that support

a more objective selection process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 30

Encouraging an inclusive approach to employee referrals

Employee referrals are a great way to get everyone involved in the

hiring process Itrsquos exciting to have a hand in shaping the future of your

company while helping someone in your network land their next role

But certain groups tend to benefit from referrals more than others

which can lead to more homogeneity

The good news is that referrals donrsquot automatically lead to

homogeneous hires according to research by DEampI consultancy

Paradigm They partnered with Pinterest to determine why employee

referrals tend to be homogenous Is it because peoplersquos networks

are truly that homogenous or is it due to pattern-matching bias

(employees are looking around at their coworkers and only thinking

of people who are similar to the existing team) Paradigm found that

when a leader asked employees to be more mindful about diversity

when offering referrals especially people of color and women it made

a tangible impact over the following six weeks So be sure to encourage

employees to consider diversity when making referrals

DonorsChoose takes a data-driven approach to DEampI in their hiring

DonorsChoosersquos challenge Develop a hiring process that aligns with

the organizationrsquos commitment to DEampI in their work in education

DonorsChoose has a high standard for their DEampI hiring efforts and

wanted to intentionally drive a more diverse candidate pool To do so

they had to prioritize gathering better data on diversity in their hiring

pools Without that data conversations between the People and Talent

team and hiring managers felt uninformed and ineffective

DonorsChoose wanted data at their fingertips to drive their DEampI

hiring efforts The Greenhouse DEampI feature set offered them a robust

set of tools Since turning on custom demographic reporting the

DonorsChoose team has seen an improvement and recognized that

now 58 of the candidates who have made it to the face-to-face

interview stage at DonorsChoose have identified as people of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 31

ConclusionWe recommend sitting with these strategies for a few days rather than

immediately jumping into action Take time to reflect on your next

steps and collaborate with your internal partners in order to create the

optimal DEampI hiring strategy for your company

Remember that when it comes to DEampI therersquos no ldquoend staterdquo to arrive

at Wersquore all on the same journey of curiosity listening progress and

discovery

If yoursquod like to do further reading or research on any of the topics we

covered wersquove curated a list of recommended reading for you

We are your partners and allies and stand beside you in this work and

will help you as best we can All of us at Greenhouse are committed to

bringing about lasting change and we will be your partner in creating

a more equitable hiring process so you can build more inclusive

stronger teams

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 32

Recommended reading

DEampI strategy Creating an Effective Diversity and Inclusion

Program

DEampI strategy Hiring Diverse Candidates is Not Enough ndash

Itrsquos About Keeping Them

DEampI strategy Toward a Racially Just Workplace

DEampI strategy Why So Many Organizations Stay White

DEampI strategy Do Your DampI Efforts Include People with

Disabilities

Hiring If Therersquos Only One Woman in Your Candidate

Pool Therersquos Statisically No Chance Shersquoll Be

Hired

Hiring A Data-Driven Approach to Hiring More

Diverse Talent

Hiring How to Alter Your Hiring Practices to Increase

Diversity

Hiring Research How Speech Patterns Lead to

Hiring Bias

Intersectionality Do Your Diversity Efforts Reflect the

Experiences of Women of Color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 33

Recommended reading (continued)

Sourcing Could This Be The Secret To Hiring More

Women And People Of Color

Sourcing Diversity Sourcing Strategy 3 LinkedIn

Search Tips from Boolean Master Glen

Cathey

Sourcing How to increase workplace diversity with

employee referrals

Unconscious bias Managing Unconscious Bias Strategies to

Manage Bias amp Build More Diverse Inclusive

Organizations

Unconscious bias 50 Ways to Fight Bias

Unconscious bias 12 Unconscious Bias Examples and How to

Avoid Them in the Workplace

Unconscious bias Harvard Project Implicit Association Tests

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 34

Greenhouse is the hiring software company

We help businesses be great at hiring through

our powerful hiring approach complete suite of

software and services and large partner ecosystem ndash

so businesses can hire for whatrsquos next

To learn more visit

greenhouseio

Page 8: eBook Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company

Select the focus attributes yoursquod like interviewers to assess

What are the skills and qualities a candidate will need to be successful

in this role If itrsquos an existing role you may already have a clear idea If

itrsquos a new role you might need to start with your best guess based on

the responsibilities the role entails and refine it over time In either case

spend some time talking to members of your team your recruiting

partner and other company leaders to pinpoint the required skills

As a rule of thumb we recommend coming up with three to six

attributes per specific category such as cross-functional collaboration

people management and technical ability The SMART framework

(Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-based) is useful for

keeping interviewers on track

Step 2

Write custom questions that test for each focus attribute

Once you have your list of focus attributes yoursquoll want to write

questions that help interviewers test for those qualities

Pro tip

Instead of opting for

generic attributes

like ldquoorganizational

skillsrdquo consider more

targeted descriptions

like ldquomanaging multiple

prioritiesrdquo that clarify the

specific competency a

candidate would need to

be effective in the role

3Ps of interviewing We created the Purpose Process and People model to help categorize

interview questions into three tiers

Purpose questions help you identify what motivates a candidate

and assess alignment with your team andor companyrsquos values

Process questions help you measure how a candidate solves

problems thinks creatively and manages projects and deadlines

People questions help you determine how a candidate

would interact with others in your organization and how they

demonstrate emotional intelligence in the workplace

Step 1

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 8

How do you translate focus attributes into interview questions Look

for ways to dig in and get detailed information based on specific

situations

Here are a few examples to get the ball rolling We chose one attribute

for each of the 3 Ps learning and continuous improvement for Purpose

managing multiple priorities for Process and collaboration for People

with a set of sample questions for each attribute

Purpose ndash Identifying what motivates a candidate

Attribute Sample questions

Learning and continuous improvement

Name three things yoursquove done in the last few years to grow in your career

Describe a time when you proactively sought out feedback to improve your productivity or effectiveness in a role

bull What led you to seek that feedback

bull How did you determine the appropriate individuals to ask

bull How did you apply the feedback you received

bull How do you keep those learnings in mind in how you work today

Discuss an example of feedback you received that you did not agree with

bull What was the feedback

bull Why did you disagree

bull How did you communicate with the person that shared it with you

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 9

Process ndash Measuring how a candidate gets things done

Attribute Sample questions

Managing multiple priorities

Describe a time when you needed to delegate a project or task to someone on your team who you did not trust in order to prioritize something else on your list

bull What was the deliverable and why did you need to delegate it

bull What made you skeptical about this personrsquos ability to execute

bull How did you navigate the tradeoff between delegating and completing it on your own

Give me an example of a time when you needed to manage up because your workload had become unreasonable

bull What circumstances led to this

bull How did you negotiate which deliverables needed to be prioritized or shared with someone else

bull Did you encounter any pushback If so how did you manage it

Tell me about a time when you were trying to meet a deadline but were interrupted and did not make the deadline

bull How did you respond

People ndash Determining how a candidate interacts with others

Attribute Sample questions

Collaboration Describe a situation where you and your manager (or another leader at your company) disagreed on the approach to take on a project or deliverable

bull How did you evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of both approaches How did you know yours was the better option

bull How did you communicate your position to your manager How did they respond bull What was the outcome

Tell me about a time when you worked on a project and a peer was not meeting expectations What actions did you take

bull How did you balance the tradeoff between holding the person accountable and completing the work yourself

Share an example of a time when your emotional intelligence helped you in collaborating with someone who had a completely different communication style

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 10

Step 3

Create rubrics for your interviewers to measure the quality of a candidatersquos responses relative to the scorecard

Now that you have your focus attributes and interview questions

ready itrsquos time to consider how yoursquod like interviewers to score their

responses

This is the rating system we use at Greenhouse ndash feel free to make

changes or use it as is

We recommend creating rubrics for interviewers so they know how to

assess responses for every question they ask during the interview

Strong no No Mixed Yes Strong yes

1111

Herersquos an example rubric for assessing responses to ldquoTell me about

a time when you were communicating with someone and they didnrsquot

understand you What did you dordquo

Strong no No Mixed Yes Strong yes

Provides an unclear

description of

the relationship

dynamiccontext and

struggles to outline

their summary of

the situation to the

interviewer

Offers an indistinct

summary of the

intended message and

does not acknowledge

any unique relationship

dynamicsadded

context that may

have contributed to

the communication

breakdown

Does not take

accountability for

their role in the

communication

breakdown (for

example ldquoI donrsquot

see why they didnrsquot

understandrdquo) and has

not demonstrated how

they learned from this

situation for future

conversations with the

person or others in the

workplace

Offers a vague

depiction of the

situation (the message

they were looking to

convey the relationship

with the other person

and where the

miscommunication

occurred)

Provides a loose

outline of the steps

taken to identify a

plan to remedy the

communication

breakdown OR a

cursory summary of

what they learned from

the experience

Demonstrates empathy

for the other person

but does not leverage

it in articulating

their strategy

for revising their

approach for follow-up

conversations

Clearly defines the

intended vision of

the message for the

other person and

discusses wherehow

the message was lost in

translation

Acknowledges any

unique or relevant

relationship dynamics

that might have

contributed to the

message not being

clearly interpreted

Demonstrates empathy

in identifying the source

of the communication

breakdown and holds

self accountable

for identifying an

alternative way to

communicate with the

person

Clarifies any

subsequent steps

in preserving and

or growing the

relationship with

the person and

added measures

taken in adjusting

communication

(delivery style

approach) for other

conversations

Clearly defines the

intended vision of

the message for the

other person and

discusses wherehow

the message was lost in

translation

Acknowledges any

unique or relevant

relationship dynamics

that might have

contributed to the

message not being

clearly interpreted

Demonstrates empathy

in identifying the source

of the communication

breakdown and holds

self accountable

for identifying an

alternative way to

communicate with the

person

Clarifies any

subsequent steps

in preserving and

or growing the

relationship with

the person and

added measures

taken in adjusting

communication

(delivery style

approach) for other

conversations

Considers the

experience a learning

opportunity to iterate

and situate their

communication style to

match the expectations

of the audience

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 12

Step 4

Train your interviewers on taking notes that are rooted in evidence not inference

Finally yoursquoll need to hold interviewers accountable for capturing

detailed objective notes from every interview

Itrsquos important to note that without coaching interviewers probably

wonrsquot know how to do this You can help them by providing detailed

examples of what yoursquore looking for

Here are some sample scorecard notes

Rating Notes

Strong yes Lucia discussed her experience in her current role as Director of People where she is currently

responsible for recruitinghiring (8 roles to be filled within the next 2 months in their DC Ohio and

Atlanta markets) coordinating logistics (flights lodging meals programming) for an upcoming

national new hire orientation (15 attendees) and planning for the company-wide (150 ppl)

offsite retreat For hiring she mentioned how she schedules phone screens at various intervals

throughout the day and commits to taking notes on the call and scheduling next-round interviews

with hiring managers Structures days around certain ldquowork blocksrdquo where she knows what needs

to get done and will communicate if things are either taking longer than expected or if there are

roadblocks and collaborates as needed to find solutions Mentioned that she is a huge fan of

automation (Google Calendarrsquos DNS blocks) and keeps a scrolling list of to-do items Shared that

strong relationships with hiring managers made things a lot easier with schedulingprocess and

that the orientation went off without a hitch Team retreat was a multi-month effort and the team

enjoyed the experience more than the previous year both programmatically and logistically

Yes Joseacute shared about working as a Program Manager with a youth-development nonprofit and how

they were tapped to work on special projects from the Chief Program Officer on top of navigating

a complex situation with their school partner and how theyrsquove been ldquogetting their feet wetrdquo by

working with the development team on an upcoming funding proposal Their answers lacked

some detail (didnrsquot provide a backstory about the relationship with the school partner ldquothings

have always been tense but Irsquove been trying to remain positiverdquo) but were overall solid in how

theyrsquod tried to use time-tracking software to set alarms for when it was time to pivot and focus on

a different task They did mention that the team was short-staffed and that was why they decided

to step up and take on more responsibility even though they knew it would require additional work

on their end and being more organized Talked about how they have regular syncs with the CPO

to offer updates on their progress Also set up a weekly 2-hour block to work onedit the funding

proposal as theyrsquore interested in ldquodeveloping musclerdquo in fundraising

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 13

Mixed I gave Janet a ldquomixedrdquo here because I wasnrsquot convinced that her approach toward balancing

multiple projects was actually impactful or effective despite her laying out all the different steps

she took We talked about her experience as a second-year teacher (at a brand-new school)

juggling making parent calls grading lesson planning and her responsibilities as a self-appointed

sponsor for the schoolrsquos LGBTQ+ student association She talked about how she was able to use a

calendar and alerts in her phone but when probed admitted to having dropped a lot of balls with

grading student assignments since she was more focused on lesson planning and being present

for the student group Admitted that she could have done a much better job with balancing her

schedule and being more realistic with her bandwidth but also shared that she got feedback

from her Assistant Principal that she may need to scale back with the student group Again shersquos

capable of being proactive with taking on a lot but I donrsquot think I have enough evidence to say yes

or no on her ability to manage it all effectively and course correct as needed

No Morris shared an example of a time when as an Account Manager he had to navigate renewal

conversations with three different customers but spent the majority of the time discussing how

he wasnrsquot able to secure two of the renewals after focusing too heavily on one customer I probed

to learn more about his approachtechnique and he said that ldquoeverything was urgent so I didnrsquot

really have an opportunity to prioritize as much as I could haverdquo I probed more and learned that he

hadnrsquot responded to key emails from his customers and had assumed that since theyrsquod renewed

in the previous year that they would do so again Did admit to learning from the experience but Irsquom

not convinced that this example showcased his ability to do so with ease

Strong no Damon struggled to give a clear response but from what I could glean he has had a difficult

relationship with several hiring managers (HMs) in his most recent role as a full-cycle recruiter and

would often drop balls (forgetting to add notes double scheduling phone screens and not turning

around job posts quickly enough to match manager expectations) He mentioned one scenario

where he had challenges working with one HM and blamed them for the issue When I probed I

learned that Damon had neglected to ask about the candidatersquos salary requirements placing the

HM in a tough situation where they had to communicate that the candidatersquos expectations were

20 higher than the budgeted amount Damon attributed the breakdown as an ldquooversightrdquo and

shared that James (the HM) was ldquonot very likeable according to other recruiters that worked with

him beforerdquo and that he ldquoknew it would be an issuerdquo working with him on this new req

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 14

Sharing examples like these will help your team know what yoursquore

looking for Review interviewersrsquo feedback regularly Ask probing

questions about any comments that are vague or excessively

inferential Encourage them to anchor their decisions in the key

takeaways of your interview rubric

While the steps outlined above might be a pretty significant shift from

the way your team has been approaching interviewing making these

changes to your interview process can help mitigate bias and open the

door to qualified candidates from a broader range of backgrounds

Remember that you donrsquot have to do this all on your own ndash your

recruiters are your partners throughout this process Be sure to seek

their advice and input on attributes interview questions decision-

making criteria and any other area where you need a little extra

support

Pro tip

Encourage interviewers

to structure their

conversations with brief

intros (the longer the

intro the greater the

odds that an interviewer

will base their decision

on likability rather than

merit) Explain to your

team that they are

evaluating candidates

based on what they

can contribute not

popularity

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 15

Part 3 For recruiting teams

Recognizing and addressing biased behaviors in hiringAs a recruiter yoursquore responsible for the tools and processes that

shape hiring in your organization And when your company commits

to inclusive hiring a hefty portion of the responsibility will also fall on

your plate

Promoting inclusion often begins by looking at your hiring process

and putting systems in place to mitigate bias When you limit the role

bias plays in decision-making you can open the door to candidates

from traditionally underrepresented groups

In this section wersquoll offer a broad overview of how to recognize and

address bias in hiring

Recognizing biased behaviors in hiring

How can recruiters help their organizations mitigate bias in the hiring

process You can start by understanding when and where bias is likely

to pop up Wersquove summarized some of the research and collected a few

resources to help you begin your exploration of this topic

As you read through the points on the next page do any problematic

aspects of your existing process surface If so make a note to dive

deeper into those topics Wersquoll share some ideas in the next few

sections to give you a jumping-off point

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 16

bull Jargon and superficial language in job posts can

discourage women from applying and perpetuate inequality

bull Over-indexing on referrals from a homogenous workforce

(typically with less-diverse networks) can close the door for

people of color and women

bull Measuring talent through academic or employer history (both

have low predictive validity on job performance) limits access

for candidates excluded from those networks

bull People of color and women are more likely to receive offers if

another finalist shares their identity

bull Low-diversity interview teams may signal larger issues for

candidates from underrepresented groups

bull Resumes with more ldquowhite-soundingrdquo names are more likely to

be advanced in the hiring process

bull Candidates are often evaluated on their perceived ease in

assimilating or fitting into the culture rather than their capacity

to perform in the role and add to the companyrsquos culture

bull Traditional unstructured interviews are highly vulnerable to

bias ndash without consistent criteria or rubrics poorly trained

interviewers make impulse-driven decisions when evaluating

candidates

bull Interview notes are often scant high-inference or based on

likability rather than objective with examples that validate

advancement or rejection

bull Gender pay gaps persist in part because women fear reprisal for

initiating salary negotiation (from other women and men) and

compensation disparities are even wider for women of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 17

Addressing biased behaviors

Bias is a mental algorithm that can be disrupted through conscious

behavior change Effective and inclusive hiring isnrsquot so much a skill as

it is a collection of habits that can enable more inclusive outcomes and

change company cultures

Here are some practical steps you can take and tools to try out based

on the observations you noted earlier Wersquove divided these tips by

pipeline stage (sourcing screening selecting and hiring)

Sourcing

bull Clarify the attributes yoursquore looking for (capabilities performance

objectives etc) during your kickoff meeting using a structured

hiring template

bull Consider partnering with text-augmenting software like Textio

TapRecruit or Gender Decoder to expose and change the words

that may disrupt diversity at the top of your funnel

bull Solicit referrals for underrepresented talent (with added financial

incentive if possible) as an important DEampI initiative that can

also lead to greater retention and lower reports of workplace

inequity

bull The recruiting platform Gem recommends using diversity salient

strategies like targeting talent from bootcamps or affinity-based

organizations like TransTech Social and the National Society of

Black Engineers

bull Audit your job posts to determine which requirements are

essential and which are extraneous remove jargon and focus on

producing (and disseminating) content that appeals to the widest

net possible

bull Use Boolean searches in LinkedIn to find overlooked talent

by searching for alumni of colleges with high diversity indices

or affinity-based organizations like fraternities sororities and

cultural interest groups

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 18

A simple structured hiring template

Want to add more structure

to your hiring process

Here are a few questions

and points to consider next

time you open a new role

Who are you trying to hire

bull Role name

bull Department

bull Who will this person report to

bull What business objectives are you trying to meet with this role

How will you evaluate the candidate

bull Skills

bull Personality traits

bull Qualifications

What will the interview process look like

bull Define the interview stages (application review phone screen

hiring manager interview etc)

bull Decide which qualities will be assessed in each stage

bull Plan out the questions or assessments for each quality

Screening

bull Based on your structured hiring template design an effective

scorecard and create clear evaluation criteria that your

interviewers can discuss in their roundups to make informed

objective decisions when assessing candidates (see page 21 for

a quick introduction to scorecards)

bull Ensure your focus attributes are specific measurable attainable

and relevant to the role(s) yoursquore recruiting for

bull Consider integrating your companyrsquos performance management

competencies (if possible) when determining focus attributes if

you have difficulty developing new ones

bull Using the performance outcomes for the role develop a bank

of behavioral and situational interview questions that match the

complexity of the role

bull Define the range of answers for your questions from exemplary

to unacceptable and train your interviewers on how to document

their feedback in the scorecard

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 19

bull Mitigate opportunities for late-stage interviewers to be

influencedbiased by previously submitted scorecards

bull Train members of employee resource groups (ERGs) to

participate as interviewers to ensure a balance of perspectives

bull Evaluate whether leveraging skills-based hiring makes sense for

your company

bull Work samples or assessments have the highest predictive

validity for job performance and grading them anonymously can

help mitigate bias

Selecting

bull Assessments like Predictive Index can help you identify

candidates who can balance out your team

bull Establish clear consistent candidate evaluation criteria for your

interviewers to adhere to as a part of a structured hiring process

bull Train your interviewers with proper interview prep material use

focus attributes to eliminate redundancy and require detailed

low-inference and objective interview notes for every attribute

assessed

bull Review all interview feedback ask probing questions about

vague or inferential comments and encourage interviewers to

anchor their decisions in the key takeaways of your interview

rubric

Hiring

bull Audit your compensation structure to ensure that salaries are at

market rate and determine your thresholds for salary negotiation

regardless of the candidate

bull Be transparent about your compensation philosophy and

consider not allowing anyone to negotiate compensation to

drive pay equity

bull Review comments from candidate surveys to measure candidate

experience and leverage the data to make iterations where

necessary throughout your process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 20

Creating attributes

Aim for at least 3ndash6 mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive

focus attributes per category for your scorecards Consider integrating

the SMART (Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-based)

framework to ensure your interviewers are enabled to measure what

matters

Building interview questions

Collaborate with hiring managers to design custom interview questions

for each attribute deemed necessary for success in the role Aligning

these questions to your scorecard focus attributes enables your

interviewers to make informed decisions that can more accurately

predict job performance

Establishing a decision-making framework

After developing your focus attributes and interview questions be sure

to define evaluation expectations for interview teams Ideally each

attribute-aligned question will include a specific rubric that outlines what

interviewers should look for in candidate answers and assessments

You can adapt this scorecard rating system to suit your company

Scorecard essentials for everyone

Scorecards are

fundamental to structured

hiring Consistent

candidate evaluation helps

mitigate interviewer bias

reduce total interview time

and drive a more evidence-

based decision framework

for selecting the right

talent

Herersquos a high-level

overview of scorecard

essentials

Strong yes is an exemplary response that clearly addresses each

element of the question with distinct examples (if appropriate)

Yes is a solid acceptable response that addresses most or all elements

of the question with clear examples

Mixed is an inconclusive response that may partially address the

question but does not provide the interviewer with evidence about the

candidatersquos capabilities A mixed rating does not equate to ldquoI donrsquot

knowrdquo ndash when an interviewer doesnrsquot have enough evidence they

should leave the attribute blank

No is an unacceptable response that ignores most or multiple

elements of the question

Strong no is an extremely unacceptable answer that doesnrsquot address

the question at all andor contains a comment that conflicts with your

companyrsquos culture Beyond that answers may blatantly disparage

others former employers communities etc

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 21

Part 4 For business leaders

Prioritizing DEampIForward-thinking business leaders (like you) are actively focused on

elevating their DEampI practices ndash not only to ensure that their teams

accurately reflect the demographics of their local population but also

to create a work environment that offers equitable opportunities where

people of all identities can thrive

Traditionally business leaders have looked to recruiting teams to

shoulder the work of diversifying the candidates moving through their

hiring pipelines However great business leaders understand that DEampI

is a company-wide commitment starting from the top ndash at Greenhouse

we call this the Talent Maker mindset

In a world where 57 of employees believe their companies should

improve diversity among their internal workforce and 86 of job

seekers actively seek out companies with diverse employee bases

proactively building inclusive hiring practices to allow for a better

diversity of hires isnrsquot just the right thing to do ndash itrsquos the smart thing

to do

McKinsey found that companies in the top quartile for racialethnic and

gender diversity were respectively 35 and 15 more likely to have

financial returns above the national median for their particular industry

That means being great at hiring today is about a lot more than how

quickly you make a hire Itrsquos also about exercising inclusive hiring

practices and having diversity on both sides of the interview process

among your interviewers and your candidates Itrsquos about business

leaders getting involved with DEampI to generate meaningful outcomes

No matter how valiantly a recruiter works to fill the top of a recruiting

funnel with underrepresented candidates if hiring managers donrsquot

similarly prioritize inclusive hiring those candidates will inevitably

leave the funnel ndash whether by choice or through the adverse impact of

unconscious bias

Letrsquos explore some of the ways that Talent Makers can boost DEampI in

their hiring strategies

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 22

Before focusing externally look internally at your own company

Diversifying your team isnrsquot only about bringing in a new hire who can

add a new perspective Itrsquos just as much about creating an environment

that allows that new hire to share their perspective and feel heard

Some leaders may skirt conversations around identity ndash by claiming to

be ldquocolorblindrdquo when it comes to race for example ndash but great leaders

lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each

employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

Ask questions

What does all this mean through the lens of hiring As you start

thinking about how to source underrepresented candidates answer

these questions

bull Why would a candidate from an underrepresented group want to

join your team

bull How would you articulate your commitment to supporting and

advocating for them as a manager

bull If you were releasing a public statement or articulating your

companyrsquos commitment to equity in response toin solidarity

with a societal movement how would you differentiate your

company from other organizations in a way thatrsquos authentic

bull More importantly how will you hold yourself accountable over

time for driving the changes you want to see

Next take a hard look at the demographics of your team Determine

the following

bull Which demographic groups ndash including but not limited to

gender raceethnicity sexual orientation industry experience

seniority education socioeconomic status and ability status ndash

are represented

bull Which groups are you lacking or are underrepresented

bull Look for patterns in the profiles of the people yoursquove hired up to

now ndash do they imply an inclination toward a certain personality

type background set of qualifications or even raceethnicity

bull If so how are you justifying that

Great leaders lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 23

bull Could you inadvertently be screening for privilege (think

preferred schools or degrees) rather than for ability and

potential

Have the conversation

Itrsquos time to invite your team into the conversation This can be the

uncomfortable part especially if yoursquore in an environment that

doesnrsquot have a precedent for such dialogues Actively sharing why

yoursquore prioritizing DEampI will signal its importance to your team help

address any discrepancies and start building the muscle for healthy

conversations on topics like race Yoursquoll also drive new awareness

and behaviors that can have outsized impacts on who you hire by

influencing your interview panels to be more open-minded and provide

better interviewing experiences to underrepresented candidates

Finally collaborate with your people operations or HR team to review

current department demographics based on self-reported employee

data This will lead to informed discussions about which groups to

focus on when diversifying hiring pipelines which ties back to your

goals around having better representation among your employees

Write your job descriptionsjob posts through an inclusive lens

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader

is a job description for a role on your team Itrsquos the first touchpoint

candidates have with your team and it directly impacts who does ndash

and doesnrsquot ndash engage in your interview process

Here are tips on how to make your job descriptions more inclusive ndash

and more attractive to the candidates yoursquore targeting

Identify and rework inherently biased language

Countless job descriptions contain language that is gendered which

can skew your talent pool before you even interact with candidates

Platforms like Textio leverage artificial intelligence to help remove

gender bias business jargon and other phrases that reinforce

stereotypes in written content

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader is a job description for a role on your team

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 24

Describe goals and growth opportunities

Focus on describing the exciting goals and clear objectives of the

job rather than listing day-to-day responsibilities that arenrsquot tied to

outcomes This will not only inspire candidates it will also help them

decide if what theyrsquoll own and learn in your job is aligned with their

career goals

Examples of unintentionally biased language

Masculine-tone

Exhaustive

Enforcement

Fearless

Feminine-tone

Transparent

Catalyst

In touch with

Textio writes ldquoA language pattern is considered gendered if it

statistically changes the proportion of men and women who respond

to a job post containing itrdquo Their research reveals that in jobs where

a man is hired the original job post averages almost twice as many

masculine-tone phrases as feminine In jobs where a woman is hired

Textio finds the exact opposite there are twice as many feminine-tone

phrases as masculine in the job post Here are a few common phrases

that exert this type of bias effect

bull What are the goals and outcomes you want this person to achieve

bull What are the success metrics being tracked and the desired outcomes

bull What does growth look like on your team when someone delivers

quarter over quarter

bull Who will this person be actively collaborating with

Questions to answer in your job description

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 25

Focus on skills over requirements

Carefully consider each requirement yoursquore adding to your job

description Can you shift your focus away from a specific number

of years of work experience or required degrees and move toward

a candidatersquos abilities Could you take it a step further and include

verbiage that encourages candidates to apply even if they might not

have all the necessary qualifications

Get other opinions

Continue to iterate and socialize your job description Share it with

someone whorsquos currently in the role or someone who represents an

underrepresented demographic group to learn if there are better ways to

position the content Incorporating feedback from different perspectives

is key to eliminating unintentional biases in the language

Use structured hiring to mitigate unconscious bias

Now that yoursquove communicated your focus on diversity and published

an inclusive job description you might think most of your work is

behind you After all isnrsquot the process mostly in your recruiterrsquos hands

from here Not just yet Once you have candidates entering your hiring

pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices

will really be put to the test

Consider adding an inclusivity statement

Is your job description unintentionally scaring candidates away

Research shows that women tend to only apply for jobs when they meet

100 of the requirements One way to encourage candidates from

diverse backgrounds to apply is by adding an inclusivity statement to

your list of qualifications Jobs are filled 6 faster when the description

includes an inclusion message or EEO statement Herersquos the Greenhouse

version (itrsquos the last item in the list of qualifications) ldquoYour own unique

talents If you donrsquot meet 100 of the qualifications outlined above tell

us why yoursquod be a great fit for this role in your cover letterrdquo

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 26

Here are a few important things to keep in mind to stay accountable to

your commitment to DEampI

Screen in over screening out

When reviewing resumes use the framework of screening in rather

than screening out While certain jobs will have hard requirements ndash an

engineer might need fluency in a certain coding language to perform in

their job ndash many employers are placing less emphasis on a strict set of

resume qualifications when determining who to move to the next stage

and thinking about how they can invest in training people who have

potential but donrsquot have specific qualifications

When conducting interviews many hiring managers get

understandably nervous when considering candidates from

backgrounds that are not currently represented on their team That

behavior is often grounded in similar-to-me bias and perpetuates

homogeneity Pay close attention to how you and your interviewers

react to historically underrepresented candidates and actively exercise

open-mindedness Your best hire may be the person who is different

from everyone else your team has hired in the past

Use the same criteria

To create an even playing field assess all candidates against the same

hiring criteria that yoursquove determined is necessary for the role which

is the core of structured hiring Similarly make sure each candidate is

answering the same interview questions from your interviewers This

allows your interviewers not only to focus on relevant areas to assess

but also to compare candidates in a data-driven and fair way in the

event yoursquore choosing between several finalists

Diversify your panel

Finally consider your interview panel Which demographic groups are

represented and which are not represented Do you have a panel of all

men Of all the same ethnicity or race Of all millennials If the answer

is yes to any of these scenarios how are you planning to address this

elephant in the room with candidates who identify differently Put

yourself in their shoes and be prepared to clearly explain why creating

a more diverse team is a priority for you

Once you have candidates entering your hiring pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices will really be put to the test

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 27

Measure wins by progress and improvements

If you donrsquot already have an extensive DEampI program at your

organization figuring out where to start can be challenging Who we

are informs everything we do ndash who we hire what we observe where

we live how we communicate ndash and it can be tough to know where to

focus when checking our own potential biases However starting with a

deep reflection of your hiring process is a way to take ownership of your

responsibility as a business leader to prioritize DEampI Your commitment

may not produce immediate results since company demographics

arenrsquot something that can change overnight but your efforts will drive

meaningful and positive change in the long run with respect to who you

hire and advocate for in your company

Own your influence As a leader you have the ability to influence others through your words

and actions Consider the ways you can demonstrate your commitment

to DEampI Here are some ideas to get you started

bull Sponsor an employee resource group and commit to helping

them achieve their goals

bull Attend diversity sourcing events and invite coworkers to join you

bull Refer candidates from overlookedunderrepresented groups to

open roles throughout your organization

bull Look for local organizations you can partner with ndash perhaps

you can sponsor a hackathon offer an internship or otherwise

support their mission

bull Ask for feedback and suggestions ndash your team might already

have some great ideas about how to prioritize DEampI

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 28

Part 5 For everyone

Creating an inclusive candidate experience to build stronger more diverse teamsEvery person in your company ndash regardless of their job title ndash can

contribute to inclusive hiring Whether theyrsquore making referrals

interviewing candidates or talking to prospects their actions can

have an impact on candidate experience Thatrsquos why itrsquos essential

to be intentional about the role everyone plays

Here are a few ways to create an inclusive candidate experience

Structured hiring

Structured hiring is an approach where selection decisions are

based on evidence not emotion Leaders align the role to a business

objective and build a rigorous and objective interview process

through conversations assignments and the like that can be used to

predict job performance Candidates are asked consistent questions

that connect back to specific attributes required for the role and

interviewers evaluate responses against a defined rating system in

the interview scorecard

In previous sections we covered how hiring managers and recruiters

can partner to implement structured hiring Remember that rolling

it out to your entire company will take time and effort Everyone

involved in the interview process will need to be trained on things

like how to conduct interviews take notes and score candidates

Consider integrating this training into new hire onboarding team

offsites or manager professional development to ensure everyone

stays up to date

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 29

Defining and hiring for culture add

Over the past several years wersquove seen companies move away

from assessing candidates on their ldquoculture fitrdquo because this term

can lead to homogeneous hiring But many companies still want

a way to determine whether candidates are aligned with their values

This is where ldquoculture addrdquo or values interviews can come into play

Culture-add interviews also give candidates the chance to meet

people from other teams and departments to get a broader sense of

your company culture

If culture-add interviews are part of your hiring process (or you want

them to be) yoursquoll want to consider the following

bull Who conducts culture-add interviews What is the selection

process like for identifying these interviewers within your

company and training them

bull Which questions does the culture-add interview cover How do

you define great acceptable and unacceptable answers

bull How often will you revisit and update this process

Hiring Maturity success story Neil Casey ThoughtWorks

In this limited podcast

series Greenhouse

President and Co-

founder Jon Stross sat

down with talent leaders

from leading companies

to discuss their Hiring

Maturity journeys Listen

in as Jon invites Neil

Casey Global Head of

Sourcing and Strategic

Hiring at ThoughtWorks

to discuss building an

inclusive hiring process

at scale

Explore the Greenhouse DEampI feature set

Take structured interviewing to the next level with solutions that enable

recruiters interviewers and hiring managers to operationalize and

scale fairer hiring practices Herersquos a brief overview of the Greenhouse

DEampI feature set

Data collection and reporting ndash Track self-reported applicant

demographic data throughout the hiring funnel (from sourcing

to offer) and measure pass-throughdrop-off rates

In-the-moment interventions ndash Reminders that nudge users to

slow down and avoid instinctive mental shortcuts that arenrsquot

rooted in evidence or tied to job-relevant criteria

Structured decision-making ndash Added guardrails that support

a more objective selection process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 30

Encouraging an inclusive approach to employee referrals

Employee referrals are a great way to get everyone involved in the

hiring process Itrsquos exciting to have a hand in shaping the future of your

company while helping someone in your network land their next role

But certain groups tend to benefit from referrals more than others

which can lead to more homogeneity

The good news is that referrals donrsquot automatically lead to

homogeneous hires according to research by DEampI consultancy

Paradigm They partnered with Pinterest to determine why employee

referrals tend to be homogenous Is it because peoplersquos networks

are truly that homogenous or is it due to pattern-matching bias

(employees are looking around at their coworkers and only thinking

of people who are similar to the existing team) Paradigm found that

when a leader asked employees to be more mindful about diversity

when offering referrals especially people of color and women it made

a tangible impact over the following six weeks So be sure to encourage

employees to consider diversity when making referrals

DonorsChoose takes a data-driven approach to DEampI in their hiring

DonorsChoosersquos challenge Develop a hiring process that aligns with

the organizationrsquos commitment to DEampI in their work in education

DonorsChoose has a high standard for their DEampI hiring efforts and

wanted to intentionally drive a more diverse candidate pool To do so

they had to prioritize gathering better data on diversity in their hiring

pools Without that data conversations between the People and Talent

team and hiring managers felt uninformed and ineffective

DonorsChoose wanted data at their fingertips to drive their DEampI

hiring efforts The Greenhouse DEampI feature set offered them a robust

set of tools Since turning on custom demographic reporting the

DonorsChoose team has seen an improvement and recognized that

now 58 of the candidates who have made it to the face-to-face

interview stage at DonorsChoose have identified as people of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 31

ConclusionWe recommend sitting with these strategies for a few days rather than

immediately jumping into action Take time to reflect on your next

steps and collaborate with your internal partners in order to create the

optimal DEampI hiring strategy for your company

Remember that when it comes to DEampI therersquos no ldquoend staterdquo to arrive

at Wersquore all on the same journey of curiosity listening progress and

discovery

If yoursquod like to do further reading or research on any of the topics we

covered wersquove curated a list of recommended reading for you

We are your partners and allies and stand beside you in this work and

will help you as best we can All of us at Greenhouse are committed to

bringing about lasting change and we will be your partner in creating

a more equitable hiring process so you can build more inclusive

stronger teams

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 32

Recommended reading

DEampI strategy Creating an Effective Diversity and Inclusion

Program

DEampI strategy Hiring Diverse Candidates is Not Enough ndash

Itrsquos About Keeping Them

DEampI strategy Toward a Racially Just Workplace

DEampI strategy Why So Many Organizations Stay White

DEampI strategy Do Your DampI Efforts Include People with

Disabilities

Hiring If Therersquos Only One Woman in Your Candidate

Pool Therersquos Statisically No Chance Shersquoll Be

Hired

Hiring A Data-Driven Approach to Hiring More

Diverse Talent

Hiring How to Alter Your Hiring Practices to Increase

Diversity

Hiring Research How Speech Patterns Lead to

Hiring Bias

Intersectionality Do Your Diversity Efforts Reflect the

Experiences of Women of Color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 33

Recommended reading (continued)

Sourcing Could This Be The Secret To Hiring More

Women And People Of Color

Sourcing Diversity Sourcing Strategy 3 LinkedIn

Search Tips from Boolean Master Glen

Cathey

Sourcing How to increase workplace diversity with

employee referrals

Unconscious bias Managing Unconscious Bias Strategies to

Manage Bias amp Build More Diverse Inclusive

Organizations

Unconscious bias 50 Ways to Fight Bias

Unconscious bias 12 Unconscious Bias Examples and How to

Avoid Them in the Workplace

Unconscious bias Harvard Project Implicit Association Tests

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 34

Greenhouse is the hiring software company

We help businesses be great at hiring through

our powerful hiring approach complete suite of

software and services and large partner ecosystem ndash

so businesses can hire for whatrsquos next

To learn more visit

greenhouseio

Page 9: eBook Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company

How do you translate focus attributes into interview questions Look

for ways to dig in and get detailed information based on specific

situations

Here are a few examples to get the ball rolling We chose one attribute

for each of the 3 Ps learning and continuous improvement for Purpose

managing multiple priorities for Process and collaboration for People

with a set of sample questions for each attribute

Purpose ndash Identifying what motivates a candidate

Attribute Sample questions

Learning and continuous improvement

Name three things yoursquove done in the last few years to grow in your career

Describe a time when you proactively sought out feedback to improve your productivity or effectiveness in a role

bull What led you to seek that feedback

bull How did you determine the appropriate individuals to ask

bull How did you apply the feedback you received

bull How do you keep those learnings in mind in how you work today

Discuss an example of feedback you received that you did not agree with

bull What was the feedback

bull Why did you disagree

bull How did you communicate with the person that shared it with you

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 9

Process ndash Measuring how a candidate gets things done

Attribute Sample questions

Managing multiple priorities

Describe a time when you needed to delegate a project or task to someone on your team who you did not trust in order to prioritize something else on your list

bull What was the deliverable and why did you need to delegate it

bull What made you skeptical about this personrsquos ability to execute

bull How did you navigate the tradeoff between delegating and completing it on your own

Give me an example of a time when you needed to manage up because your workload had become unreasonable

bull What circumstances led to this

bull How did you negotiate which deliverables needed to be prioritized or shared with someone else

bull Did you encounter any pushback If so how did you manage it

Tell me about a time when you were trying to meet a deadline but were interrupted and did not make the deadline

bull How did you respond

People ndash Determining how a candidate interacts with others

Attribute Sample questions

Collaboration Describe a situation where you and your manager (or another leader at your company) disagreed on the approach to take on a project or deliverable

bull How did you evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of both approaches How did you know yours was the better option

bull How did you communicate your position to your manager How did they respond bull What was the outcome

Tell me about a time when you worked on a project and a peer was not meeting expectations What actions did you take

bull How did you balance the tradeoff between holding the person accountable and completing the work yourself

Share an example of a time when your emotional intelligence helped you in collaborating with someone who had a completely different communication style

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 10

Step 3

Create rubrics for your interviewers to measure the quality of a candidatersquos responses relative to the scorecard

Now that you have your focus attributes and interview questions

ready itrsquos time to consider how yoursquod like interviewers to score their

responses

This is the rating system we use at Greenhouse ndash feel free to make

changes or use it as is

We recommend creating rubrics for interviewers so they know how to

assess responses for every question they ask during the interview

Strong no No Mixed Yes Strong yes

1111

Herersquos an example rubric for assessing responses to ldquoTell me about

a time when you were communicating with someone and they didnrsquot

understand you What did you dordquo

Strong no No Mixed Yes Strong yes

Provides an unclear

description of

the relationship

dynamiccontext and

struggles to outline

their summary of

the situation to the

interviewer

Offers an indistinct

summary of the

intended message and

does not acknowledge

any unique relationship

dynamicsadded

context that may

have contributed to

the communication

breakdown

Does not take

accountability for

their role in the

communication

breakdown (for

example ldquoI donrsquot

see why they didnrsquot

understandrdquo) and has

not demonstrated how

they learned from this

situation for future

conversations with the

person or others in the

workplace

Offers a vague

depiction of the

situation (the message

they were looking to

convey the relationship

with the other person

and where the

miscommunication

occurred)

Provides a loose

outline of the steps

taken to identify a

plan to remedy the

communication

breakdown OR a

cursory summary of

what they learned from

the experience

Demonstrates empathy

for the other person

but does not leverage

it in articulating

their strategy

for revising their

approach for follow-up

conversations

Clearly defines the

intended vision of

the message for the

other person and

discusses wherehow

the message was lost in

translation

Acknowledges any

unique or relevant

relationship dynamics

that might have

contributed to the

message not being

clearly interpreted

Demonstrates empathy

in identifying the source

of the communication

breakdown and holds

self accountable

for identifying an

alternative way to

communicate with the

person

Clarifies any

subsequent steps

in preserving and

or growing the

relationship with

the person and

added measures

taken in adjusting

communication

(delivery style

approach) for other

conversations

Clearly defines the

intended vision of

the message for the

other person and

discusses wherehow

the message was lost in

translation

Acknowledges any

unique or relevant

relationship dynamics

that might have

contributed to the

message not being

clearly interpreted

Demonstrates empathy

in identifying the source

of the communication

breakdown and holds

self accountable

for identifying an

alternative way to

communicate with the

person

Clarifies any

subsequent steps

in preserving and

or growing the

relationship with

the person and

added measures

taken in adjusting

communication

(delivery style

approach) for other

conversations

Considers the

experience a learning

opportunity to iterate

and situate their

communication style to

match the expectations

of the audience

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 12

Step 4

Train your interviewers on taking notes that are rooted in evidence not inference

Finally yoursquoll need to hold interviewers accountable for capturing

detailed objective notes from every interview

Itrsquos important to note that without coaching interviewers probably

wonrsquot know how to do this You can help them by providing detailed

examples of what yoursquore looking for

Here are some sample scorecard notes

Rating Notes

Strong yes Lucia discussed her experience in her current role as Director of People where she is currently

responsible for recruitinghiring (8 roles to be filled within the next 2 months in their DC Ohio and

Atlanta markets) coordinating logistics (flights lodging meals programming) for an upcoming

national new hire orientation (15 attendees) and planning for the company-wide (150 ppl)

offsite retreat For hiring she mentioned how she schedules phone screens at various intervals

throughout the day and commits to taking notes on the call and scheduling next-round interviews

with hiring managers Structures days around certain ldquowork blocksrdquo where she knows what needs

to get done and will communicate if things are either taking longer than expected or if there are

roadblocks and collaborates as needed to find solutions Mentioned that she is a huge fan of

automation (Google Calendarrsquos DNS blocks) and keeps a scrolling list of to-do items Shared that

strong relationships with hiring managers made things a lot easier with schedulingprocess and

that the orientation went off without a hitch Team retreat was a multi-month effort and the team

enjoyed the experience more than the previous year both programmatically and logistically

Yes Joseacute shared about working as a Program Manager with a youth-development nonprofit and how

they were tapped to work on special projects from the Chief Program Officer on top of navigating

a complex situation with their school partner and how theyrsquove been ldquogetting their feet wetrdquo by

working with the development team on an upcoming funding proposal Their answers lacked

some detail (didnrsquot provide a backstory about the relationship with the school partner ldquothings

have always been tense but Irsquove been trying to remain positiverdquo) but were overall solid in how

theyrsquod tried to use time-tracking software to set alarms for when it was time to pivot and focus on

a different task They did mention that the team was short-staffed and that was why they decided

to step up and take on more responsibility even though they knew it would require additional work

on their end and being more organized Talked about how they have regular syncs with the CPO

to offer updates on their progress Also set up a weekly 2-hour block to work onedit the funding

proposal as theyrsquore interested in ldquodeveloping musclerdquo in fundraising

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 13

Mixed I gave Janet a ldquomixedrdquo here because I wasnrsquot convinced that her approach toward balancing

multiple projects was actually impactful or effective despite her laying out all the different steps

she took We talked about her experience as a second-year teacher (at a brand-new school)

juggling making parent calls grading lesson planning and her responsibilities as a self-appointed

sponsor for the schoolrsquos LGBTQ+ student association She talked about how she was able to use a

calendar and alerts in her phone but when probed admitted to having dropped a lot of balls with

grading student assignments since she was more focused on lesson planning and being present

for the student group Admitted that she could have done a much better job with balancing her

schedule and being more realistic with her bandwidth but also shared that she got feedback

from her Assistant Principal that she may need to scale back with the student group Again shersquos

capable of being proactive with taking on a lot but I donrsquot think I have enough evidence to say yes

or no on her ability to manage it all effectively and course correct as needed

No Morris shared an example of a time when as an Account Manager he had to navigate renewal

conversations with three different customers but spent the majority of the time discussing how

he wasnrsquot able to secure two of the renewals after focusing too heavily on one customer I probed

to learn more about his approachtechnique and he said that ldquoeverything was urgent so I didnrsquot

really have an opportunity to prioritize as much as I could haverdquo I probed more and learned that he

hadnrsquot responded to key emails from his customers and had assumed that since theyrsquod renewed

in the previous year that they would do so again Did admit to learning from the experience but Irsquom

not convinced that this example showcased his ability to do so with ease

Strong no Damon struggled to give a clear response but from what I could glean he has had a difficult

relationship with several hiring managers (HMs) in his most recent role as a full-cycle recruiter and

would often drop balls (forgetting to add notes double scheduling phone screens and not turning

around job posts quickly enough to match manager expectations) He mentioned one scenario

where he had challenges working with one HM and blamed them for the issue When I probed I

learned that Damon had neglected to ask about the candidatersquos salary requirements placing the

HM in a tough situation where they had to communicate that the candidatersquos expectations were

20 higher than the budgeted amount Damon attributed the breakdown as an ldquooversightrdquo and

shared that James (the HM) was ldquonot very likeable according to other recruiters that worked with

him beforerdquo and that he ldquoknew it would be an issuerdquo working with him on this new req

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 14

Sharing examples like these will help your team know what yoursquore

looking for Review interviewersrsquo feedback regularly Ask probing

questions about any comments that are vague or excessively

inferential Encourage them to anchor their decisions in the key

takeaways of your interview rubric

While the steps outlined above might be a pretty significant shift from

the way your team has been approaching interviewing making these

changes to your interview process can help mitigate bias and open the

door to qualified candidates from a broader range of backgrounds

Remember that you donrsquot have to do this all on your own ndash your

recruiters are your partners throughout this process Be sure to seek

their advice and input on attributes interview questions decision-

making criteria and any other area where you need a little extra

support

Pro tip

Encourage interviewers

to structure their

conversations with brief

intros (the longer the

intro the greater the

odds that an interviewer

will base their decision

on likability rather than

merit) Explain to your

team that they are

evaluating candidates

based on what they

can contribute not

popularity

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 15

Part 3 For recruiting teams

Recognizing and addressing biased behaviors in hiringAs a recruiter yoursquore responsible for the tools and processes that

shape hiring in your organization And when your company commits

to inclusive hiring a hefty portion of the responsibility will also fall on

your plate

Promoting inclusion often begins by looking at your hiring process

and putting systems in place to mitigate bias When you limit the role

bias plays in decision-making you can open the door to candidates

from traditionally underrepresented groups

In this section wersquoll offer a broad overview of how to recognize and

address bias in hiring

Recognizing biased behaviors in hiring

How can recruiters help their organizations mitigate bias in the hiring

process You can start by understanding when and where bias is likely

to pop up Wersquove summarized some of the research and collected a few

resources to help you begin your exploration of this topic

As you read through the points on the next page do any problematic

aspects of your existing process surface If so make a note to dive

deeper into those topics Wersquoll share some ideas in the next few

sections to give you a jumping-off point

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 16

bull Jargon and superficial language in job posts can

discourage women from applying and perpetuate inequality

bull Over-indexing on referrals from a homogenous workforce

(typically with less-diverse networks) can close the door for

people of color and women

bull Measuring talent through academic or employer history (both

have low predictive validity on job performance) limits access

for candidates excluded from those networks

bull People of color and women are more likely to receive offers if

another finalist shares their identity

bull Low-diversity interview teams may signal larger issues for

candidates from underrepresented groups

bull Resumes with more ldquowhite-soundingrdquo names are more likely to

be advanced in the hiring process

bull Candidates are often evaluated on their perceived ease in

assimilating or fitting into the culture rather than their capacity

to perform in the role and add to the companyrsquos culture

bull Traditional unstructured interviews are highly vulnerable to

bias ndash without consistent criteria or rubrics poorly trained

interviewers make impulse-driven decisions when evaluating

candidates

bull Interview notes are often scant high-inference or based on

likability rather than objective with examples that validate

advancement or rejection

bull Gender pay gaps persist in part because women fear reprisal for

initiating salary negotiation (from other women and men) and

compensation disparities are even wider for women of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 17

Addressing biased behaviors

Bias is a mental algorithm that can be disrupted through conscious

behavior change Effective and inclusive hiring isnrsquot so much a skill as

it is a collection of habits that can enable more inclusive outcomes and

change company cultures

Here are some practical steps you can take and tools to try out based

on the observations you noted earlier Wersquove divided these tips by

pipeline stage (sourcing screening selecting and hiring)

Sourcing

bull Clarify the attributes yoursquore looking for (capabilities performance

objectives etc) during your kickoff meeting using a structured

hiring template

bull Consider partnering with text-augmenting software like Textio

TapRecruit or Gender Decoder to expose and change the words

that may disrupt diversity at the top of your funnel

bull Solicit referrals for underrepresented talent (with added financial

incentive if possible) as an important DEampI initiative that can

also lead to greater retention and lower reports of workplace

inequity

bull The recruiting platform Gem recommends using diversity salient

strategies like targeting talent from bootcamps or affinity-based

organizations like TransTech Social and the National Society of

Black Engineers

bull Audit your job posts to determine which requirements are

essential and which are extraneous remove jargon and focus on

producing (and disseminating) content that appeals to the widest

net possible

bull Use Boolean searches in LinkedIn to find overlooked talent

by searching for alumni of colleges with high diversity indices

or affinity-based organizations like fraternities sororities and

cultural interest groups

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 18

A simple structured hiring template

Want to add more structure

to your hiring process

Here are a few questions

and points to consider next

time you open a new role

Who are you trying to hire

bull Role name

bull Department

bull Who will this person report to

bull What business objectives are you trying to meet with this role

How will you evaluate the candidate

bull Skills

bull Personality traits

bull Qualifications

What will the interview process look like

bull Define the interview stages (application review phone screen

hiring manager interview etc)

bull Decide which qualities will be assessed in each stage

bull Plan out the questions or assessments for each quality

Screening

bull Based on your structured hiring template design an effective

scorecard and create clear evaluation criteria that your

interviewers can discuss in their roundups to make informed

objective decisions when assessing candidates (see page 21 for

a quick introduction to scorecards)

bull Ensure your focus attributes are specific measurable attainable

and relevant to the role(s) yoursquore recruiting for

bull Consider integrating your companyrsquos performance management

competencies (if possible) when determining focus attributes if

you have difficulty developing new ones

bull Using the performance outcomes for the role develop a bank

of behavioral and situational interview questions that match the

complexity of the role

bull Define the range of answers for your questions from exemplary

to unacceptable and train your interviewers on how to document

their feedback in the scorecard

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 19

bull Mitigate opportunities for late-stage interviewers to be

influencedbiased by previously submitted scorecards

bull Train members of employee resource groups (ERGs) to

participate as interviewers to ensure a balance of perspectives

bull Evaluate whether leveraging skills-based hiring makes sense for

your company

bull Work samples or assessments have the highest predictive

validity for job performance and grading them anonymously can

help mitigate bias

Selecting

bull Assessments like Predictive Index can help you identify

candidates who can balance out your team

bull Establish clear consistent candidate evaluation criteria for your

interviewers to adhere to as a part of a structured hiring process

bull Train your interviewers with proper interview prep material use

focus attributes to eliminate redundancy and require detailed

low-inference and objective interview notes for every attribute

assessed

bull Review all interview feedback ask probing questions about

vague or inferential comments and encourage interviewers to

anchor their decisions in the key takeaways of your interview

rubric

Hiring

bull Audit your compensation structure to ensure that salaries are at

market rate and determine your thresholds for salary negotiation

regardless of the candidate

bull Be transparent about your compensation philosophy and

consider not allowing anyone to negotiate compensation to

drive pay equity

bull Review comments from candidate surveys to measure candidate

experience and leverage the data to make iterations where

necessary throughout your process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 20

Creating attributes

Aim for at least 3ndash6 mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive

focus attributes per category for your scorecards Consider integrating

the SMART (Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-based)

framework to ensure your interviewers are enabled to measure what

matters

Building interview questions

Collaborate with hiring managers to design custom interview questions

for each attribute deemed necessary for success in the role Aligning

these questions to your scorecard focus attributes enables your

interviewers to make informed decisions that can more accurately

predict job performance

Establishing a decision-making framework

After developing your focus attributes and interview questions be sure

to define evaluation expectations for interview teams Ideally each

attribute-aligned question will include a specific rubric that outlines what

interviewers should look for in candidate answers and assessments

You can adapt this scorecard rating system to suit your company

Scorecard essentials for everyone

Scorecards are

fundamental to structured

hiring Consistent

candidate evaluation helps

mitigate interviewer bias

reduce total interview time

and drive a more evidence-

based decision framework

for selecting the right

talent

Herersquos a high-level

overview of scorecard

essentials

Strong yes is an exemplary response that clearly addresses each

element of the question with distinct examples (if appropriate)

Yes is a solid acceptable response that addresses most or all elements

of the question with clear examples

Mixed is an inconclusive response that may partially address the

question but does not provide the interviewer with evidence about the

candidatersquos capabilities A mixed rating does not equate to ldquoI donrsquot

knowrdquo ndash when an interviewer doesnrsquot have enough evidence they

should leave the attribute blank

No is an unacceptable response that ignores most or multiple

elements of the question

Strong no is an extremely unacceptable answer that doesnrsquot address

the question at all andor contains a comment that conflicts with your

companyrsquos culture Beyond that answers may blatantly disparage

others former employers communities etc

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 21

Part 4 For business leaders

Prioritizing DEampIForward-thinking business leaders (like you) are actively focused on

elevating their DEampI practices ndash not only to ensure that their teams

accurately reflect the demographics of their local population but also

to create a work environment that offers equitable opportunities where

people of all identities can thrive

Traditionally business leaders have looked to recruiting teams to

shoulder the work of diversifying the candidates moving through their

hiring pipelines However great business leaders understand that DEampI

is a company-wide commitment starting from the top ndash at Greenhouse

we call this the Talent Maker mindset

In a world where 57 of employees believe their companies should

improve diversity among their internal workforce and 86 of job

seekers actively seek out companies with diverse employee bases

proactively building inclusive hiring practices to allow for a better

diversity of hires isnrsquot just the right thing to do ndash itrsquos the smart thing

to do

McKinsey found that companies in the top quartile for racialethnic and

gender diversity were respectively 35 and 15 more likely to have

financial returns above the national median for their particular industry

That means being great at hiring today is about a lot more than how

quickly you make a hire Itrsquos also about exercising inclusive hiring

practices and having diversity on both sides of the interview process

among your interviewers and your candidates Itrsquos about business

leaders getting involved with DEampI to generate meaningful outcomes

No matter how valiantly a recruiter works to fill the top of a recruiting

funnel with underrepresented candidates if hiring managers donrsquot

similarly prioritize inclusive hiring those candidates will inevitably

leave the funnel ndash whether by choice or through the adverse impact of

unconscious bias

Letrsquos explore some of the ways that Talent Makers can boost DEampI in

their hiring strategies

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 22

Before focusing externally look internally at your own company

Diversifying your team isnrsquot only about bringing in a new hire who can

add a new perspective Itrsquos just as much about creating an environment

that allows that new hire to share their perspective and feel heard

Some leaders may skirt conversations around identity ndash by claiming to

be ldquocolorblindrdquo when it comes to race for example ndash but great leaders

lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each

employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

Ask questions

What does all this mean through the lens of hiring As you start

thinking about how to source underrepresented candidates answer

these questions

bull Why would a candidate from an underrepresented group want to

join your team

bull How would you articulate your commitment to supporting and

advocating for them as a manager

bull If you were releasing a public statement or articulating your

companyrsquos commitment to equity in response toin solidarity

with a societal movement how would you differentiate your

company from other organizations in a way thatrsquos authentic

bull More importantly how will you hold yourself accountable over

time for driving the changes you want to see

Next take a hard look at the demographics of your team Determine

the following

bull Which demographic groups ndash including but not limited to

gender raceethnicity sexual orientation industry experience

seniority education socioeconomic status and ability status ndash

are represented

bull Which groups are you lacking or are underrepresented

bull Look for patterns in the profiles of the people yoursquove hired up to

now ndash do they imply an inclination toward a certain personality

type background set of qualifications or even raceethnicity

bull If so how are you justifying that

Great leaders lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 23

bull Could you inadvertently be screening for privilege (think

preferred schools or degrees) rather than for ability and

potential

Have the conversation

Itrsquos time to invite your team into the conversation This can be the

uncomfortable part especially if yoursquore in an environment that

doesnrsquot have a precedent for such dialogues Actively sharing why

yoursquore prioritizing DEampI will signal its importance to your team help

address any discrepancies and start building the muscle for healthy

conversations on topics like race Yoursquoll also drive new awareness

and behaviors that can have outsized impacts on who you hire by

influencing your interview panels to be more open-minded and provide

better interviewing experiences to underrepresented candidates

Finally collaborate with your people operations or HR team to review

current department demographics based on self-reported employee

data This will lead to informed discussions about which groups to

focus on when diversifying hiring pipelines which ties back to your

goals around having better representation among your employees

Write your job descriptionsjob posts through an inclusive lens

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader

is a job description for a role on your team Itrsquos the first touchpoint

candidates have with your team and it directly impacts who does ndash

and doesnrsquot ndash engage in your interview process

Here are tips on how to make your job descriptions more inclusive ndash

and more attractive to the candidates yoursquore targeting

Identify and rework inherently biased language

Countless job descriptions contain language that is gendered which

can skew your talent pool before you even interact with candidates

Platforms like Textio leverage artificial intelligence to help remove

gender bias business jargon and other phrases that reinforce

stereotypes in written content

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader is a job description for a role on your team

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 24

Describe goals and growth opportunities

Focus on describing the exciting goals and clear objectives of the

job rather than listing day-to-day responsibilities that arenrsquot tied to

outcomes This will not only inspire candidates it will also help them

decide if what theyrsquoll own and learn in your job is aligned with their

career goals

Examples of unintentionally biased language

Masculine-tone

Exhaustive

Enforcement

Fearless

Feminine-tone

Transparent

Catalyst

In touch with

Textio writes ldquoA language pattern is considered gendered if it

statistically changes the proportion of men and women who respond

to a job post containing itrdquo Their research reveals that in jobs where

a man is hired the original job post averages almost twice as many

masculine-tone phrases as feminine In jobs where a woman is hired

Textio finds the exact opposite there are twice as many feminine-tone

phrases as masculine in the job post Here are a few common phrases

that exert this type of bias effect

bull What are the goals and outcomes you want this person to achieve

bull What are the success metrics being tracked and the desired outcomes

bull What does growth look like on your team when someone delivers

quarter over quarter

bull Who will this person be actively collaborating with

Questions to answer in your job description

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 25

Focus on skills over requirements

Carefully consider each requirement yoursquore adding to your job

description Can you shift your focus away from a specific number

of years of work experience or required degrees and move toward

a candidatersquos abilities Could you take it a step further and include

verbiage that encourages candidates to apply even if they might not

have all the necessary qualifications

Get other opinions

Continue to iterate and socialize your job description Share it with

someone whorsquos currently in the role or someone who represents an

underrepresented demographic group to learn if there are better ways to

position the content Incorporating feedback from different perspectives

is key to eliminating unintentional biases in the language

Use structured hiring to mitigate unconscious bias

Now that yoursquove communicated your focus on diversity and published

an inclusive job description you might think most of your work is

behind you After all isnrsquot the process mostly in your recruiterrsquos hands

from here Not just yet Once you have candidates entering your hiring

pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices

will really be put to the test

Consider adding an inclusivity statement

Is your job description unintentionally scaring candidates away

Research shows that women tend to only apply for jobs when they meet

100 of the requirements One way to encourage candidates from

diverse backgrounds to apply is by adding an inclusivity statement to

your list of qualifications Jobs are filled 6 faster when the description

includes an inclusion message or EEO statement Herersquos the Greenhouse

version (itrsquos the last item in the list of qualifications) ldquoYour own unique

talents If you donrsquot meet 100 of the qualifications outlined above tell

us why yoursquod be a great fit for this role in your cover letterrdquo

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 26

Here are a few important things to keep in mind to stay accountable to

your commitment to DEampI

Screen in over screening out

When reviewing resumes use the framework of screening in rather

than screening out While certain jobs will have hard requirements ndash an

engineer might need fluency in a certain coding language to perform in

their job ndash many employers are placing less emphasis on a strict set of

resume qualifications when determining who to move to the next stage

and thinking about how they can invest in training people who have

potential but donrsquot have specific qualifications

When conducting interviews many hiring managers get

understandably nervous when considering candidates from

backgrounds that are not currently represented on their team That

behavior is often grounded in similar-to-me bias and perpetuates

homogeneity Pay close attention to how you and your interviewers

react to historically underrepresented candidates and actively exercise

open-mindedness Your best hire may be the person who is different

from everyone else your team has hired in the past

Use the same criteria

To create an even playing field assess all candidates against the same

hiring criteria that yoursquove determined is necessary for the role which

is the core of structured hiring Similarly make sure each candidate is

answering the same interview questions from your interviewers This

allows your interviewers not only to focus on relevant areas to assess

but also to compare candidates in a data-driven and fair way in the

event yoursquore choosing between several finalists

Diversify your panel

Finally consider your interview panel Which demographic groups are

represented and which are not represented Do you have a panel of all

men Of all the same ethnicity or race Of all millennials If the answer

is yes to any of these scenarios how are you planning to address this

elephant in the room with candidates who identify differently Put

yourself in their shoes and be prepared to clearly explain why creating

a more diverse team is a priority for you

Once you have candidates entering your hiring pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices will really be put to the test

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 27

Measure wins by progress and improvements

If you donrsquot already have an extensive DEampI program at your

organization figuring out where to start can be challenging Who we

are informs everything we do ndash who we hire what we observe where

we live how we communicate ndash and it can be tough to know where to

focus when checking our own potential biases However starting with a

deep reflection of your hiring process is a way to take ownership of your

responsibility as a business leader to prioritize DEampI Your commitment

may not produce immediate results since company demographics

arenrsquot something that can change overnight but your efforts will drive

meaningful and positive change in the long run with respect to who you

hire and advocate for in your company

Own your influence As a leader you have the ability to influence others through your words

and actions Consider the ways you can demonstrate your commitment

to DEampI Here are some ideas to get you started

bull Sponsor an employee resource group and commit to helping

them achieve their goals

bull Attend diversity sourcing events and invite coworkers to join you

bull Refer candidates from overlookedunderrepresented groups to

open roles throughout your organization

bull Look for local organizations you can partner with ndash perhaps

you can sponsor a hackathon offer an internship or otherwise

support their mission

bull Ask for feedback and suggestions ndash your team might already

have some great ideas about how to prioritize DEampI

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 28

Part 5 For everyone

Creating an inclusive candidate experience to build stronger more diverse teamsEvery person in your company ndash regardless of their job title ndash can

contribute to inclusive hiring Whether theyrsquore making referrals

interviewing candidates or talking to prospects their actions can

have an impact on candidate experience Thatrsquos why itrsquos essential

to be intentional about the role everyone plays

Here are a few ways to create an inclusive candidate experience

Structured hiring

Structured hiring is an approach where selection decisions are

based on evidence not emotion Leaders align the role to a business

objective and build a rigorous and objective interview process

through conversations assignments and the like that can be used to

predict job performance Candidates are asked consistent questions

that connect back to specific attributes required for the role and

interviewers evaluate responses against a defined rating system in

the interview scorecard

In previous sections we covered how hiring managers and recruiters

can partner to implement structured hiring Remember that rolling

it out to your entire company will take time and effort Everyone

involved in the interview process will need to be trained on things

like how to conduct interviews take notes and score candidates

Consider integrating this training into new hire onboarding team

offsites or manager professional development to ensure everyone

stays up to date

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 29

Defining and hiring for culture add

Over the past several years wersquove seen companies move away

from assessing candidates on their ldquoculture fitrdquo because this term

can lead to homogeneous hiring But many companies still want

a way to determine whether candidates are aligned with their values

This is where ldquoculture addrdquo or values interviews can come into play

Culture-add interviews also give candidates the chance to meet

people from other teams and departments to get a broader sense of

your company culture

If culture-add interviews are part of your hiring process (or you want

them to be) yoursquoll want to consider the following

bull Who conducts culture-add interviews What is the selection

process like for identifying these interviewers within your

company and training them

bull Which questions does the culture-add interview cover How do

you define great acceptable and unacceptable answers

bull How often will you revisit and update this process

Hiring Maturity success story Neil Casey ThoughtWorks

In this limited podcast

series Greenhouse

President and Co-

founder Jon Stross sat

down with talent leaders

from leading companies

to discuss their Hiring

Maturity journeys Listen

in as Jon invites Neil

Casey Global Head of

Sourcing and Strategic

Hiring at ThoughtWorks

to discuss building an

inclusive hiring process

at scale

Explore the Greenhouse DEampI feature set

Take structured interviewing to the next level with solutions that enable

recruiters interviewers and hiring managers to operationalize and

scale fairer hiring practices Herersquos a brief overview of the Greenhouse

DEampI feature set

Data collection and reporting ndash Track self-reported applicant

demographic data throughout the hiring funnel (from sourcing

to offer) and measure pass-throughdrop-off rates

In-the-moment interventions ndash Reminders that nudge users to

slow down and avoid instinctive mental shortcuts that arenrsquot

rooted in evidence or tied to job-relevant criteria

Structured decision-making ndash Added guardrails that support

a more objective selection process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 30

Encouraging an inclusive approach to employee referrals

Employee referrals are a great way to get everyone involved in the

hiring process Itrsquos exciting to have a hand in shaping the future of your

company while helping someone in your network land their next role

But certain groups tend to benefit from referrals more than others

which can lead to more homogeneity

The good news is that referrals donrsquot automatically lead to

homogeneous hires according to research by DEampI consultancy

Paradigm They partnered with Pinterest to determine why employee

referrals tend to be homogenous Is it because peoplersquos networks

are truly that homogenous or is it due to pattern-matching bias

(employees are looking around at their coworkers and only thinking

of people who are similar to the existing team) Paradigm found that

when a leader asked employees to be more mindful about diversity

when offering referrals especially people of color and women it made

a tangible impact over the following six weeks So be sure to encourage

employees to consider diversity when making referrals

DonorsChoose takes a data-driven approach to DEampI in their hiring

DonorsChoosersquos challenge Develop a hiring process that aligns with

the organizationrsquos commitment to DEampI in their work in education

DonorsChoose has a high standard for their DEampI hiring efforts and

wanted to intentionally drive a more diverse candidate pool To do so

they had to prioritize gathering better data on diversity in their hiring

pools Without that data conversations between the People and Talent

team and hiring managers felt uninformed and ineffective

DonorsChoose wanted data at their fingertips to drive their DEampI

hiring efforts The Greenhouse DEampI feature set offered them a robust

set of tools Since turning on custom demographic reporting the

DonorsChoose team has seen an improvement and recognized that

now 58 of the candidates who have made it to the face-to-face

interview stage at DonorsChoose have identified as people of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 31

ConclusionWe recommend sitting with these strategies for a few days rather than

immediately jumping into action Take time to reflect on your next

steps and collaborate with your internal partners in order to create the

optimal DEampI hiring strategy for your company

Remember that when it comes to DEampI therersquos no ldquoend staterdquo to arrive

at Wersquore all on the same journey of curiosity listening progress and

discovery

If yoursquod like to do further reading or research on any of the topics we

covered wersquove curated a list of recommended reading for you

We are your partners and allies and stand beside you in this work and

will help you as best we can All of us at Greenhouse are committed to

bringing about lasting change and we will be your partner in creating

a more equitable hiring process so you can build more inclusive

stronger teams

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 32

Recommended reading

DEampI strategy Creating an Effective Diversity and Inclusion

Program

DEampI strategy Hiring Diverse Candidates is Not Enough ndash

Itrsquos About Keeping Them

DEampI strategy Toward a Racially Just Workplace

DEampI strategy Why So Many Organizations Stay White

DEampI strategy Do Your DampI Efforts Include People with

Disabilities

Hiring If Therersquos Only One Woman in Your Candidate

Pool Therersquos Statisically No Chance Shersquoll Be

Hired

Hiring A Data-Driven Approach to Hiring More

Diverse Talent

Hiring How to Alter Your Hiring Practices to Increase

Diversity

Hiring Research How Speech Patterns Lead to

Hiring Bias

Intersectionality Do Your Diversity Efforts Reflect the

Experiences of Women of Color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 33

Recommended reading (continued)

Sourcing Could This Be The Secret To Hiring More

Women And People Of Color

Sourcing Diversity Sourcing Strategy 3 LinkedIn

Search Tips from Boolean Master Glen

Cathey

Sourcing How to increase workplace diversity with

employee referrals

Unconscious bias Managing Unconscious Bias Strategies to

Manage Bias amp Build More Diverse Inclusive

Organizations

Unconscious bias 50 Ways to Fight Bias

Unconscious bias 12 Unconscious Bias Examples and How to

Avoid Them in the Workplace

Unconscious bias Harvard Project Implicit Association Tests

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 34

Greenhouse is the hiring software company

We help businesses be great at hiring through

our powerful hiring approach complete suite of

software and services and large partner ecosystem ndash

so businesses can hire for whatrsquos next

To learn more visit

greenhouseio

Page 10: eBook Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company

Process ndash Measuring how a candidate gets things done

Attribute Sample questions

Managing multiple priorities

Describe a time when you needed to delegate a project or task to someone on your team who you did not trust in order to prioritize something else on your list

bull What was the deliverable and why did you need to delegate it

bull What made you skeptical about this personrsquos ability to execute

bull How did you navigate the tradeoff between delegating and completing it on your own

Give me an example of a time when you needed to manage up because your workload had become unreasonable

bull What circumstances led to this

bull How did you negotiate which deliverables needed to be prioritized or shared with someone else

bull Did you encounter any pushback If so how did you manage it

Tell me about a time when you were trying to meet a deadline but were interrupted and did not make the deadline

bull How did you respond

People ndash Determining how a candidate interacts with others

Attribute Sample questions

Collaboration Describe a situation where you and your manager (or another leader at your company) disagreed on the approach to take on a project or deliverable

bull How did you evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of both approaches How did you know yours was the better option

bull How did you communicate your position to your manager How did they respond bull What was the outcome

Tell me about a time when you worked on a project and a peer was not meeting expectations What actions did you take

bull How did you balance the tradeoff between holding the person accountable and completing the work yourself

Share an example of a time when your emotional intelligence helped you in collaborating with someone who had a completely different communication style

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 10

Step 3

Create rubrics for your interviewers to measure the quality of a candidatersquos responses relative to the scorecard

Now that you have your focus attributes and interview questions

ready itrsquos time to consider how yoursquod like interviewers to score their

responses

This is the rating system we use at Greenhouse ndash feel free to make

changes or use it as is

We recommend creating rubrics for interviewers so they know how to

assess responses for every question they ask during the interview

Strong no No Mixed Yes Strong yes

1111

Herersquos an example rubric for assessing responses to ldquoTell me about

a time when you were communicating with someone and they didnrsquot

understand you What did you dordquo

Strong no No Mixed Yes Strong yes

Provides an unclear

description of

the relationship

dynamiccontext and

struggles to outline

their summary of

the situation to the

interviewer

Offers an indistinct

summary of the

intended message and

does not acknowledge

any unique relationship

dynamicsadded

context that may

have contributed to

the communication

breakdown

Does not take

accountability for

their role in the

communication

breakdown (for

example ldquoI donrsquot

see why they didnrsquot

understandrdquo) and has

not demonstrated how

they learned from this

situation for future

conversations with the

person or others in the

workplace

Offers a vague

depiction of the

situation (the message

they were looking to

convey the relationship

with the other person

and where the

miscommunication

occurred)

Provides a loose

outline of the steps

taken to identify a

plan to remedy the

communication

breakdown OR a

cursory summary of

what they learned from

the experience

Demonstrates empathy

for the other person

but does not leverage

it in articulating

their strategy

for revising their

approach for follow-up

conversations

Clearly defines the

intended vision of

the message for the

other person and

discusses wherehow

the message was lost in

translation

Acknowledges any

unique or relevant

relationship dynamics

that might have

contributed to the

message not being

clearly interpreted

Demonstrates empathy

in identifying the source

of the communication

breakdown and holds

self accountable

for identifying an

alternative way to

communicate with the

person

Clarifies any

subsequent steps

in preserving and

or growing the

relationship with

the person and

added measures

taken in adjusting

communication

(delivery style

approach) for other

conversations

Clearly defines the

intended vision of

the message for the

other person and

discusses wherehow

the message was lost in

translation

Acknowledges any

unique or relevant

relationship dynamics

that might have

contributed to the

message not being

clearly interpreted

Demonstrates empathy

in identifying the source

of the communication

breakdown and holds

self accountable

for identifying an

alternative way to

communicate with the

person

Clarifies any

subsequent steps

in preserving and

or growing the

relationship with

the person and

added measures

taken in adjusting

communication

(delivery style

approach) for other

conversations

Considers the

experience a learning

opportunity to iterate

and situate their

communication style to

match the expectations

of the audience

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 12

Step 4

Train your interviewers on taking notes that are rooted in evidence not inference

Finally yoursquoll need to hold interviewers accountable for capturing

detailed objective notes from every interview

Itrsquos important to note that without coaching interviewers probably

wonrsquot know how to do this You can help them by providing detailed

examples of what yoursquore looking for

Here are some sample scorecard notes

Rating Notes

Strong yes Lucia discussed her experience in her current role as Director of People where she is currently

responsible for recruitinghiring (8 roles to be filled within the next 2 months in their DC Ohio and

Atlanta markets) coordinating logistics (flights lodging meals programming) for an upcoming

national new hire orientation (15 attendees) and planning for the company-wide (150 ppl)

offsite retreat For hiring she mentioned how she schedules phone screens at various intervals

throughout the day and commits to taking notes on the call and scheduling next-round interviews

with hiring managers Structures days around certain ldquowork blocksrdquo where she knows what needs

to get done and will communicate if things are either taking longer than expected or if there are

roadblocks and collaborates as needed to find solutions Mentioned that she is a huge fan of

automation (Google Calendarrsquos DNS blocks) and keeps a scrolling list of to-do items Shared that

strong relationships with hiring managers made things a lot easier with schedulingprocess and

that the orientation went off without a hitch Team retreat was a multi-month effort and the team

enjoyed the experience more than the previous year both programmatically and logistically

Yes Joseacute shared about working as a Program Manager with a youth-development nonprofit and how

they were tapped to work on special projects from the Chief Program Officer on top of navigating

a complex situation with their school partner and how theyrsquove been ldquogetting their feet wetrdquo by

working with the development team on an upcoming funding proposal Their answers lacked

some detail (didnrsquot provide a backstory about the relationship with the school partner ldquothings

have always been tense but Irsquove been trying to remain positiverdquo) but were overall solid in how

theyrsquod tried to use time-tracking software to set alarms for when it was time to pivot and focus on

a different task They did mention that the team was short-staffed and that was why they decided

to step up and take on more responsibility even though they knew it would require additional work

on their end and being more organized Talked about how they have regular syncs with the CPO

to offer updates on their progress Also set up a weekly 2-hour block to work onedit the funding

proposal as theyrsquore interested in ldquodeveloping musclerdquo in fundraising

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 13

Mixed I gave Janet a ldquomixedrdquo here because I wasnrsquot convinced that her approach toward balancing

multiple projects was actually impactful or effective despite her laying out all the different steps

she took We talked about her experience as a second-year teacher (at a brand-new school)

juggling making parent calls grading lesson planning and her responsibilities as a self-appointed

sponsor for the schoolrsquos LGBTQ+ student association She talked about how she was able to use a

calendar and alerts in her phone but when probed admitted to having dropped a lot of balls with

grading student assignments since she was more focused on lesson planning and being present

for the student group Admitted that she could have done a much better job with balancing her

schedule and being more realistic with her bandwidth but also shared that she got feedback

from her Assistant Principal that she may need to scale back with the student group Again shersquos

capable of being proactive with taking on a lot but I donrsquot think I have enough evidence to say yes

or no on her ability to manage it all effectively and course correct as needed

No Morris shared an example of a time when as an Account Manager he had to navigate renewal

conversations with three different customers but spent the majority of the time discussing how

he wasnrsquot able to secure two of the renewals after focusing too heavily on one customer I probed

to learn more about his approachtechnique and he said that ldquoeverything was urgent so I didnrsquot

really have an opportunity to prioritize as much as I could haverdquo I probed more and learned that he

hadnrsquot responded to key emails from his customers and had assumed that since theyrsquod renewed

in the previous year that they would do so again Did admit to learning from the experience but Irsquom

not convinced that this example showcased his ability to do so with ease

Strong no Damon struggled to give a clear response but from what I could glean he has had a difficult

relationship with several hiring managers (HMs) in his most recent role as a full-cycle recruiter and

would often drop balls (forgetting to add notes double scheduling phone screens and not turning

around job posts quickly enough to match manager expectations) He mentioned one scenario

where he had challenges working with one HM and blamed them for the issue When I probed I

learned that Damon had neglected to ask about the candidatersquos salary requirements placing the

HM in a tough situation where they had to communicate that the candidatersquos expectations were

20 higher than the budgeted amount Damon attributed the breakdown as an ldquooversightrdquo and

shared that James (the HM) was ldquonot very likeable according to other recruiters that worked with

him beforerdquo and that he ldquoknew it would be an issuerdquo working with him on this new req

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 14

Sharing examples like these will help your team know what yoursquore

looking for Review interviewersrsquo feedback regularly Ask probing

questions about any comments that are vague or excessively

inferential Encourage them to anchor their decisions in the key

takeaways of your interview rubric

While the steps outlined above might be a pretty significant shift from

the way your team has been approaching interviewing making these

changes to your interview process can help mitigate bias and open the

door to qualified candidates from a broader range of backgrounds

Remember that you donrsquot have to do this all on your own ndash your

recruiters are your partners throughout this process Be sure to seek

their advice and input on attributes interview questions decision-

making criteria and any other area where you need a little extra

support

Pro tip

Encourage interviewers

to structure their

conversations with brief

intros (the longer the

intro the greater the

odds that an interviewer

will base their decision

on likability rather than

merit) Explain to your

team that they are

evaluating candidates

based on what they

can contribute not

popularity

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 15

Part 3 For recruiting teams

Recognizing and addressing biased behaviors in hiringAs a recruiter yoursquore responsible for the tools and processes that

shape hiring in your organization And when your company commits

to inclusive hiring a hefty portion of the responsibility will also fall on

your plate

Promoting inclusion often begins by looking at your hiring process

and putting systems in place to mitigate bias When you limit the role

bias plays in decision-making you can open the door to candidates

from traditionally underrepresented groups

In this section wersquoll offer a broad overview of how to recognize and

address bias in hiring

Recognizing biased behaviors in hiring

How can recruiters help their organizations mitigate bias in the hiring

process You can start by understanding when and where bias is likely

to pop up Wersquove summarized some of the research and collected a few

resources to help you begin your exploration of this topic

As you read through the points on the next page do any problematic

aspects of your existing process surface If so make a note to dive

deeper into those topics Wersquoll share some ideas in the next few

sections to give you a jumping-off point

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 16

bull Jargon and superficial language in job posts can

discourage women from applying and perpetuate inequality

bull Over-indexing on referrals from a homogenous workforce

(typically with less-diverse networks) can close the door for

people of color and women

bull Measuring talent through academic or employer history (both

have low predictive validity on job performance) limits access

for candidates excluded from those networks

bull People of color and women are more likely to receive offers if

another finalist shares their identity

bull Low-diversity interview teams may signal larger issues for

candidates from underrepresented groups

bull Resumes with more ldquowhite-soundingrdquo names are more likely to

be advanced in the hiring process

bull Candidates are often evaluated on their perceived ease in

assimilating or fitting into the culture rather than their capacity

to perform in the role and add to the companyrsquos culture

bull Traditional unstructured interviews are highly vulnerable to

bias ndash without consistent criteria or rubrics poorly trained

interviewers make impulse-driven decisions when evaluating

candidates

bull Interview notes are often scant high-inference or based on

likability rather than objective with examples that validate

advancement or rejection

bull Gender pay gaps persist in part because women fear reprisal for

initiating salary negotiation (from other women and men) and

compensation disparities are even wider for women of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 17

Addressing biased behaviors

Bias is a mental algorithm that can be disrupted through conscious

behavior change Effective and inclusive hiring isnrsquot so much a skill as

it is a collection of habits that can enable more inclusive outcomes and

change company cultures

Here are some practical steps you can take and tools to try out based

on the observations you noted earlier Wersquove divided these tips by

pipeline stage (sourcing screening selecting and hiring)

Sourcing

bull Clarify the attributes yoursquore looking for (capabilities performance

objectives etc) during your kickoff meeting using a structured

hiring template

bull Consider partnering with text-augmenting software like Textio

TapRecruit or Gender Decoder to expose and change the words

that may disrupt diversity at the top of your funnel

bull Solicit referrals for underrepresented talent (with added financial

incentive if possible) as an important DEampI initiative that can

also lead to greater retention and lower reports of workplace

inequity

bull The recruiting platform Gem recommends using diversity salient

strategies like targeting talent from bootcamps or affinity-based

organizations like TransTech Social and the National Society of

Black Engineers

bull Audit your job posts to determine which requirements are

essential and which are extraneous remove jargon and focus on

producing (and disseminating) content that appeals to the widest

net possible

bull Use Boolean searches in LinkedIn to find overlooked talent

by searching for alumni of colleges with high diversity indices

or affinity-based organizations like fraternities sororities and

cultural interest groups

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 18

A simple structured hiring template

Want to add more structure

to your hiring process

Here are a few questions

and points to consider next

time you open a new role

Who are you trying to hire

bull Role name

bull Department

bull Who will this person report to

bull What business objectives are you trying to meet with this role

How will you evaluate the candidate

bull Skills

bull Personality traits

bull Qualifications

What will the interview process look like

bull Define the interview stages (application review phone screen

hiring manager interview etc)

bull Decide which qualities will be assessed in each stage

bull Plan out the questions or assessments for each quality

Screening

bull Based on your structured hiring template design an effective

scorecard and create clear evaluation criteria that your

interviewers can discuss in their roundups to make informed

objective decisions when assessing candidates (see page 21 for

a quick introduction to scorecards)

bull Ensure your focus attributes are specific measurable attainable

and relevant to the role(s) yoursquore recruiting for

bull Consider integrating your companyrsquos performance management

competencies (if possible) when determining focus attributes if

you have difficulty developing new ones

bull Using the performance outcomes for the role develop a bank

of behavioral and situational interview questions that match the

complexity of the role

bull Define the range of answers for your questions from exemplary

to unacceptable and train your interviewers on how to document

their feedback in the scorecard

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 19

bull Mitigate opportunities for late-stage interviewers to be

influencedbiased by previously submitted scorecards

bull Train members of employee resource groups (ERGs) to

participate as interviewers to ensure a balance of perspectives

bull Evaluate whether leveraging skills-based hiring makes sense for

your company

bull Work samples or assessments have the highest predictive

validity for job performance and grading them anonymously can

help mitigate bias

Selecting

bull Assessments like Predictive Index can help you identify

candidates who can balance out your team

bull Establish clear consistent candidate evaluation criteria for your

interviewers to adhere to as a part of a structured hiring process

bull Train your interviewers with proper interview prep material use

focus attributes to eliminate redundancy and require detailed

low-inference and objective interview notes for every attribute

assessed

bull Review all interview feedback ask probing questions about

vague or inferential comments and encourage interviewers to

anchor their decisions in the key takeaways of your interview

rubric

Hiring

bull Audit your compensation structure to ensure that salaries are at

market rate and determine your thresholds for salary negotiation

regardless of the candidate

bull Be transparent about your compensation philosophy and

consider not allowing anyone to negotiate compensation to

drive pay equity

bull Review comments from candidate surveys to measure candidate

experience and leverage the data to make iterations where

necessary throughout your process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 20

Creating attributes

Aim for at least 3ndash6 mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive

focus attributes per category for your scorecards Consider integrating

the SMART (Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-based)

framework to ensure your interviewers are enabled to measure what

matters

Building interview questions

Collaborate with hiring managers to design custom interview questions

for each attribute deemed necessary for success in the role Aligning

these questions to your scorecard focus attributes enables your

interviewers to make informed decisions that can more accurately

predict job performance

Establishing a decision-making framework

After developing your focus attributes and interview questions be sure

to define evaluation expectations for interview teams Ideally each

attribute-aligned question will include a specific rubric that outlines what

interviewers should look for in candidate answers and assessments

You can adapt this scorecard rating system to suit your company

Scorecard essentials for everyone

Scorecards are

fundamental to structured

hiring Consistent

candidate evaluation helps

mitigate interviewer bias

reduce total interview time

and drive a more evidence-

based decision framework

for selecting the right

talent

Herersquos a high-level

overview of scorecard

essentials

Strong yes is an exemplary response that clearly addresses each

element of the question with distinct examples (if appropriate)

Yes is a solid acceptable response that addresses most or all elements

of the question with clear examples

Mixed is an inconclusive response that may partially address the

question but does not provide the interviewer with evidence about the

candidatersquos capabilities A mixed rating does not equate to ldquoI donrsquot

knowrdquo ndash when an interviewer doesnrsquot have enough evidence they

should leave the attribute blank

No is an unacceptable response that ignores most or multiple

elements of the question

Strong no is an extremely unacceptable answer that doesnrsquot address

the question at all andor contains a comment that conflicts with your

companyrsquos culture Beyond that answers may blatantly disparage

others former employers communities etc

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 21

Part 4 For business leaders

Prioritizing DEampIForward-thinking business leaders (like you) are actively focused on

elevating their DEampI practices ndash not only to ensure that their teams

accurately reflect the demographics of their local population but also

to create a work environment that offers equitable opportunities where

people of all identities can thrive

Traditionally business leaders have looked to recruiting teams to

shoulder the work of diversifying the candidates moving through their

hiring pipelines However great business leaders understand that DEampI

is a company-wide commitment starting from the top ndash at Greenhouse

we call this the Talent Maker mindset

In a world where 57 of employees believe their companies should

improve diversity among their internal workforce and 86 of job

seekers actively seek out companies with diverse employee bases

proactively building inclusive hiring practices to allow for a better

diversity of hires isnrsquot just the right thing to do ndash itrsquos the smart thing

to do

McKinsey found that companies in the top quartile for racialethnic and

gender diversity were respectively 35 and 15 more likely to have

financial returns above the national median for their particular industry

That means being great at hiring today is about a lot more than how

quickly you make a hire Itrsquos also about exercising inclusive hiring

practices and having diversity on both sides of the interview process

among your interviewers and your candidates Itrsquos about business

leaders getting involved with DEampI to generate meaningful outcomes

No matter how valiantly a recruiter works to fill the top of a recruiting

funnel with underrepresented candidates if hiring managers donrsquot

similarly prioritize inclusive hiring those candidates will inevitably

leave the funnel ndash whether by choice or through the adverse impact of

unconscious bias

Letrsquos explore some of the ways that Talent Makers can boost DEampI in

their hiring strategies

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 22

Before focusing externally look internally at your own company

Diversifying your team isnrsquot only about bringing in a new hire who can

add a new perspective Itrsquos just as much about creating an environment

that allows that new hire to share their perspective and feel heard

Some leaders may skirt conversations around identity ndash by claiming to

be ldquocolorblindrdquo when it comes to race for example ndash but great leaders

lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each

employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

Ask questions

What does all this mean through the lens of hiring As you start

thinking about how to source underrepresented candidates answer

these questions

bull Why would a candidate from an underrepresented group want to

join your team

bull How would you articulate your commitment to supporting and

advocating for them as a manager

bull If you were releasing a public statement or articulating your

companyrsquos commitment to equity in response toin solidarity

with a societal movement how would you differentiate your

company from other organizations in a way thatrsquos authentic

bull More importantly how will you hold yourself accountable over

time for driving the changes you want to see

Next take a hard look at the demographics of your team Determine

the following

bull Which demographic groups ndash including but not limited to

gender raceethnicity sexual orientation industry experience

seniority education socioeconomic status and ability status ndash

are represented

bull Which groups are you lacking or are underrepresented

bull Look for patterns in the profiles of the people yoursquove hired up to

now ndash do they imply an inclination toward a certain personality

type background set of qualifications or even raceethnicity

bull If so how are you justifying that

Great leaders lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 23

bull Could you inadvertently be screening for privilege (think

preferred schools or degrees) rather than for ability and

potential

Have the conversation

Itrsquos time to invite your team into the conversation This can be the

uncomfortable part especially if yoursquore in an environment that

doesnrsquot have a precedent for such dialogues Actively sharing why

yoursquore prioritizing DEampI will signal its importance to your team help

address any discrepancies and start building the muscle for healthy

conversations on topics like race Yoursquoll also drive new awareness

and behaviors that can have outsized impacts on who you hire by

influencing your interview panels to be more open-minded and provide

better interviewing experiences to underrepresented candidates

Finally collaborate with your people operations or HR team to review

current department demographics based on self-reported employee

data This will lead to informed discussions about which groups to

focus on when diversifying hiring pipelines which ties back to your

goals around having better representation among your employees

Write your job descriptionsjob posts through an inclusive lens

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader

is a job description for a role on your team Itrsquos the first touchpoint

candidates have with your team and it directly impacts who does ndash

and doesnrsquot ndash engage in your interview process

Here are tips on how to make your job descriptions more inclusive ndash

and more attractive to the candidates yoursquore targeting

Identify and rework inherently biased language

Countless job descriptions contain language that is gendered which

can skew your talent pool before you even interact with candidates

Platforms like Textio leverage artificial intelligence to help remove

gender bias business jargon and other phrases that reinforce

stereotypes in written content

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader is a job description for a role on your team

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 24

Describe goals and growth opportunities

Focus on describing the exciting goals and clear objectives of the

job rather than listing day-to-day responsibilities that arenrsquot tied to

outcomes This will not only inspire candidates it will also help them

decide if what theyrsquoll own and learn in your job is aligned with their

career goals

Examples of unintentionally biased language

Masculine-tone

Exhaustive

Enforcement

Fearless

Feminine-tone

Transparent

Catalyst

In touch with

Textio writes ldquoA language pattern is considered gendered if it

statistically changes the proportion of men and women who respond

to a job post containing itrdquo Their research reveals that in jobs where

a man is hired the original job post averages almost twice as many

masculine-tone phrases as feminine In jobs where a woman is hired

Textio finds the exact opposite there are twice as many feminine-tone

phrases as masculine in the job post Here are a few common phrases

that exert this type of bias effect

bull What are the goals and outcomes you want this person to achieve

bull What are the success metrics being tracked and the desired outcomes

bull What does growth look like on your team when someone delivers

quarter over quarter

bull Who will this person be actively collaborating with

Questions to answer in your job description

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 25

Focus on skills over requirements

Carefully consider each requirement yoursquore adding to your job

description Can you shift your focus away from a specific number

of years of work experience or required degrees and move toward

a candidatersquos abilities Could you take it a step further and include

verbiage that encourages candidates to apply even if they might not

have all the necessary qualifications

Get other opinions

Continue to iterate and socialize your job description Share it with

someone whorsquos currently in the role or someone who represents an

underrepresented demographic group to learn if there are better ways to

position the content Incorporating feedback from different perspectives

is key to eliminating unintentional biases in the language

Use structured hiring to mitigate unconscious bias

Now that yoursquove communicated your focus on diversity and published

an inclusive job description you might think most of your work is

behind you After all isnrsquot the process mostly in your recruiterrsquos hands

from here Not just yet Once you have candidates entering your hiring

pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices

will really be put to the test

Consider adding an inclusivity statement

Is your job description unintentionally scaring candidates away

Research shows that women tend to only apply for jobs when they meet

100 of the requirements One way to encourage candidates from

diverse backgrounds to apply is by adding an inclusivity statement to

your list of qualifications Jobs are filled 6 faster when the description

includes an inclusion message or EEO statement Herersquos the Greenhouse

version (itrsquos the last item in the list of qualifications) ldquoYour own unique

talents If you donrsquot meet 100 of the qualifications outlined above tell

us why yoursquod be a great fit for this role in your cover letterrdquo

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 26

Here are a few important things to keep in mind to stay accountable to

your commitment to DEampI

Screen in over screening out

When reviewing resumes use the framework of screening in rather

than screening out While certain jobs will have hard requirements ndash an

engineer might need fluency in a certain coding language to perform in

their job ndash many employers are placing less emphasis on a strict set of

resume qualifications when determining who to move to the next stage

and thinking about how they can invest in training people who have

potential but donrsquot have specific qualifications

When conducting interviews many hiring managers get

understandably nervous when considering candidates from

backgrounds that are not currently represented on their team That

behavior is often grounded in similar-to-me bias and perpetuates

homogeneity Pay close attention to how you and your interviewers

react to historically underrepresented candidates and actively exercise

open-mindedness Your best hire may be the person who is different

from everyone else your team has hired in the past

Use the same criteria

To create an even playing field assess all candidates against the same

hiring criteria that yoursquove determined is necessary for the role which

is the core of structured hiring Similarly make sure each candidate is

answering the same interview questions from your interviewers This

allows your interviewers not only to focus on relevant areas to assess

but also to compare candidates in a data-driven and fair way in the

event yoursquore choosing between several finalists

Diversify your panel

Finally consider your interview panel Which demographic groups are

represented and which are not represented Do you have a panel of all

men Of all the same ethnicity or race Of all millennials If the answer

is yes to any of these scenarios how are you planning to address this

elephant in the room with candidates who identify differently Put

yourself in their shoes and be prepared to clearly explain why creating

a more diverse team is a priority for you

Once you have candidates entering your hiring pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices will really be put to the test

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 27

Measure wins by progress and improvements

If you donrsquot already have an extensive DEampI program at your

organization figuring out where to start can be challenging Who we

are informs everything we do ndash who we hire what we observe where

we live how we communicate ndash and it can be tough to know where to

focus when checking our own potential biases However starting with a

deep reflection of your hiring process is a way to take ownership of your

responsibility as a business leader to prioritize DEampI Your commitment

may not produce immediate results since company demographics

arenrsquot something that can change overnight but your efforts will drive

meaningful and positive change in the long run with respect to who you

hire and advocate for in your company

Own your influence As a leader you have the ability to influence others through your words

and actions Consider the ways you can demonstrate your commitment

to DEampI Here are some ideas to get you started

bull Sponsor an employee resource group and commit to helping

them achieve their goals

bull Attend diversity sourcing events and invite coworkers to join you

bull Refer candidates from overlookedunderrepresented groups to

open roles throughout your organization

bull Look for local organizations you can partner with ndash perhaps

you can sponsor a hackathon offer an internship or otherwise

support their mission

bull Ask for feedback and suggestions ndash your team might already

have some great ideas about how to prioritize DEampI

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 28

Part 5 For everyone

Creating an inclusive candidate experience to build stronger more diverse teamsEvery person in your company ndash regardless of their job title ndash can

contribute to inclusive hiring Whether theyrsquore making referrals

interviewing candidates or talking to prospects their actions can

have an impact on candidate experience Thatrsquos why itrsquos essential

to be intentional about the role everyone plays

Here are a few ways to create an inclusive candidate experience

Structured hiring

Structured hiring is an approach where selection decisions are

based on evidence not emotion Leaders align the role to a business

objective and build a rigorous and objective interview process

through conversations assignments and the like that can be used to

predict job performance Candidates are asked consistent questions

that connect back to specific attributes required for the role and

interviewers evaluate responses against a defined rating system in

the interview scorecard

In previous sections we covered how hiring managers and recruiters

can partner to implement structured hiring Remember that rolling

it out to your entire company will take time and effort Everyone

involved in the interview process will need to be trained on things

like how to conduct interviews take notes and score candidates

Consider integrating this training into new hire onboarding team

offsites or manager professional development to ensure everyone

stays up to date

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 29

Defining and hiring for culture add

Over the past several years wersquove seen companies move away

from assessing candidates on their ldquoculture fitrdquo because this term

can lead to homogeneous hiring But many companies still want

a way to determine whether candidates are aligned with their values

This is where ldquoculture addrdquo or values interviews can come into play

Culture-add interviews also give candidates the chance to meet

people from other teams and departments to get a broader sense of

your company culture

If culture-add interviews are part of your hiring process (or you want

them to be) yoursquoll want to consider the following

bull Who conducts culture-add interviews What is the selection

process like for identifying these interviewers within your

company and training them

bull Which questions does the culture-add interview cover How do

you define great acceptable and unacceptable answers

bull How often will you revisit and update this process

Hiring Maturity success story Neil Casey ThoughtWorks

In this limited podcast

series Greenhouse

President and Co-

founder Jon Stross sat

down with talent leaders

from leading companies

to discuss their Hiring

Maturity journeys Listen

in as Jon invites Neil

Casey Global Head of

Sourcing and Strategic

Hiring at ThoughtWorks

to discuss building an

inclusive hiring process

at scale

Explore the Greenhouse DEampI feature set

Take structured interviewing to the next level with solutions that enable

recruiters interviewers and hiring managers to operationalize and

scale fairer hiring practices Herersquos a brief overview of the Greenhouse

DEampI feature set

Data collection and reporting ndash Track self-reported applicant

demographic data throughout the hiring funnel (from sourcing

to offer) and measure pass-throughdrop-off rates

In-the-moment interventions ndash Reminders that nudge users to

slow down and avoid instinctive mental shortcuts that arenrsquot

rooted in evidence or tied to job-relevant criteria

Structured decision-making ndash Added guardrails that support

a more objective selection process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 30

Encouraging an inclusive approach to employee referrals

Employee referrals are a great way to get everyone involved in the

hiring process Itrsquos exciting to have a hand in shaping the future of your

company while helping someone in your network land their next role

But certain groups tend to benefit from referrals more than others

which can lead to more homogeneity

The good news is that referrals donrsquot automatically lead to

homogeneous hires according to research by DEampI consultancy

Paradigm They partnered with Pinterest to determine why employee

referrals tend to be homogenous Is it because peoplersquos networks

are truly that homogenous or is it due to pattern-matching bias

(employees are looking around at their coworkers and only thinking

of people who are similar to the existing team) Paradigm found that

when a leader asked employees to be more mindful about diversity

when offering referrals especially people of color and women it made

a tangible impact over the following six weeks So be sure to encourage

employees to consider diversity when making referrals

DonorsChoose takes a data-driven approach to DEampI in their hiring

DonorsChoosersquos challenge Develop a hiring process that aligns with

the organizationrsquos commitment to DEampI in their work in education

DonorsChoose has a high standard for their DEampI hiring efforts and

wanted to intentionally drive a more diverse candidate pool To do so

they had to prioritize gathering better data on diversity in their hiring

pools Without that data conversations between the People and Talent

team and hiring managers felt uninformed and ineffective

DonorsChoose wanted data at their fingertips to drive their DEampI

hiring efforts The Greenhouse DEampI feature set offered them a robust

set of tools Since turning on custom demographic reporting the

DonorsChoose team has seen an improvement and recognized that

now 58 of the candidates who have made it to the face-to-face

interview stage at DonorsChoose have identified as people of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 31

ConclusionWe recommend sitting with these strategies for a few days rather than

immediately jumping into action Take time to reflect on your next

steps and collaborate with your internal partners in order to create the

optimal DEampI hiring strategy for your company

Remember that when it comes to DEampI therersquos no ldquoend staterdquo to arrive

at Wersquore all on the same journey of curiosity listening progress and

discovery

If yoursquod like to do further reading or research on any of the topics we

covered wersquove curated a list of recommended reading for you

We are your partners and allies and stand beside you in this work and

will help you as best we can All of us at Greenhouse are committed to

bringing about lasting change and we will be your partner in creating

a more equitable hiring process so you can build more inclusive

stronger teams

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 32

Recommended reading

DEampI strategy Creating an Effective Diversity and Inclusion

Program

DEampI strategy Hiring Diverse Candidates is Not Enough ndash

Itrsquos About Keeping Them

DEampI strategy Toward a Racially Just Workplace

DEampI strategy Why So Many Organizations Stay White

DEampI strategy Do Your DampI Efforts Include People with

Disabilities

Hiring If Therersquos Only One Woman in Your Candidate

Pool Therersquos Statisically No Chance Shersquoll Be

Hired

Hiring A Data-Driven Approach to Hiring More

Diverse Talent

Hiring How to Alter Your Hiring Practices to Increase

Diversity

Hiring Research How Speech Patterns Lead to

Hiring Bias

Intersectionality Do Your Diversity Efforts Reflect the

Experiences of Women of Color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 33

Recommended reading (continued)

Sourcing Could This Be The Secret To Hiring More

Women And People Of Color

Sourcing Diversity Sourcing Strategy 3 LinkedIn

Search Tips from Boolean Master Glen

Cathey

Sourcing How to increase workplace diversity with

employee referrals

Unconscious bias Managing Unconscious Bias Strategies to

Manage Bias amp Build More Diverse Inclusive

Organizations

Unconscious bias 50 Ways to Fight Bias

Unconscious bias 12 Unconscious Bias Examples and How to

Avoid Them in the Workplace

Unconscious bias Harvard Project Implicit Association Tests

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 34

Greenhouse is the hiring software company

We help businesses be great at hiring through

our powerful hiring approach complete suite of

software and services and large partner ecosystem ndash

so businesses can hire for whatrsquos next

To learn more visit

greenhouseio

Page 11: eBook Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company

Step 3

Create rubrics for your interviewers to measure the quality of a candidatersquos responses relative to the scorecard

Now that you have your focus attributes and interview questions

ready itrsquos time to consider how yoursquod like interviewers to score their

responses

This is the rating system we use at Greenhouse ndash feel free to make

changes or use it as is

We recommend creating rubrics for interviewers so they know how to

assess responses for every question they ask during the interview

Strong no No Mixed Yes Strong yes

1111

Herersquos an example rubric for assessing responses to ldquoTell me about

a time when you were communicating with someone and they didnrsquot

understand you What did you dordquo

Strong no No Mixed Yes Strong yes

Provides an unclear

description of

the relationship

dynamiccontext and

struggles to outline

their summary of

the situation to the

interviewer

Offers an indistinct

summary of the

intended message and

does not acknowledge

any unique relationship

dynamicsadded

context that may

have contributed to

the communication

breakdown

Does not take

accountability for

their role in the

communication

breakdown (for

example ldquoI donrsquot

see why they didnrsquot

understandrdquo) and has

not demonstrated how

they learned from this

situation for future

conversations with the

person or others in the

workplace

Offers a vague

depiction of the

situation (the message

they were looking to

convey the relationship

with the other person

and where the

miscommunication

occurred)

Provides a loose

outline of the steps

taken to identify a

plan to remedy the

communication

breakdown OR a

cursory summary of

what they learned from

the experience

Demonstrates empathy

for the other person

but does not leverage

it in articulating

their strategy

for revising their

approach for follow-up

conversations

Clearly defines the

intended vision of

the message for the

other person and

discusses wherehow

the message was lost in

translation

Acknowledges any

unique or relevant

relationship dynamics

that might have

contributed to the

message not being

clearly interpreted

Demonstrates empathy

in identifying the source

of the communication

breakdown and holds

self accountable

for identifying an

alternative way to

communicate with the

person

Clarifies any

subsequent steps

in preserving and

or growing the

relationship with

the person and

added measures

taken in adjusting

communication

(delivery style

approach) for other

conversations

Clearly defines the

intended vision of

the message for the

other person and

discusses wherehow

the message was lost in

translation

Acknowledges any

unique or relevant

relationship dynamics

that might have

contributed to the

message not being

clearly interpreted

Demonstrates empathy

in identifying the source

of the communication

breakdown and holds

self accountable

for identifying an

alternative way to

communicate with the

person

Clarifies any

subsequent steps

in preserving and

or growing the

relationship with

the person and

added measures

taken in adjusting

communication

(delivery style

approach) for other

conversations

Considers the

experience a learning

opportunity to iterate

and situate their

communication style to

match the expectations

of the audience

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 12

Step 4

Train your interviewers on taking notes that are rooted in evidence not inference

Finally yoursquoll need to hold interviewers accountable for capturing

detailed objective notes from every interview

Itrsquos important to note that without coaching interviewers probably

wonrsquot know how to do this You can help them by providing detailed

examples of what yoursquore looking for

Here are some sample scorecard notes

Rating Notes

Strong yes Lucia discussed her experience in her current role as Director of People where she is currently

responsible for recruitinghiring (8 roles to be filled within the next 2 months in their DC Ohio and

Atlanta markets) coordinating logistics (flights lodging meals programming) for an upcoming

national new hire orientation (15 attendees) and planning for the company-wide (150 ppl)

offsite retreat For hiring she mentioned how she schedules phone screens at various intervals

throughout the day and commits to taking notes on the call and scheduling next-round interviews

with hiring managers Structures days around certain ldquowork blocksrdquo where she knows what needs

to get done and will communicate if things are either taking longer than expected or if there are

roadblocks and collaborates as needed to find solutions Mentioned that she is a huge fan of

automation (Google Calendarrsquos DNS blocks) and keeps a scrolling list of to-do items Shared that

strong relationships with hiring managers made things a lot easier with schedulingprocess and

that the orientation went off without a hitch Team retreat was a multi-month effort and the team

enjoyed the experience more than the previous year both programmatically and logistically

Yes Joseacute shared about working as a Program Manager with a youth-development nonprofit and how

they were tapped to work on special projects from the Chief Program Officer on top of navigating

a complex situation with their school partner and how theyrsquove been ldquogetting their feet wetrdquo by

working with the development team on an upcoming funding proposal Their answers lacked

some detail (didnrsquot provide a backstory about the relationship with the school partner ldquothings

have always been tense but Irsquove been trying to remain positiverdquo) but were overall solid in how

theyrsquod tried to use time-tracking software to set alarms for when it was time to pivot and focus on

a different task They did mention that the team was short-staffed and that was why they decided

to step up and take on more responsibility even though they knew it would require additional work

on their end and being more organized Talked about how they have regular syncs with the CPO

to offer updates on their progress Also set up a weekly 2-hour block to work onedit the funding

proposal as theyrsquore interested in ldquodeveloping musclerdquo in fundraising

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 13

Mixed I gave Janet a ldquomixedrdquo here because I wasnrsquot convinced that her approach toward balancing

multiple projects was actually impactful or effective despite her laying out all the different steps

she took We talked about her experience as a second-year teacher (at a brand-new school)

juggling making parent calls grading lesson planning and her responsibilities as a self-appointed

sponsor for the schoolrsquos LGBTQ+ student association She talked about how she was able to use a

calendar and alerts in her phone but when probed admitted to having dropped a lot of balls with

grading student assignments since she was more focused on lesson planning and being present

for the student group Admitted that she could have done a much better job with balancing her

schedule and being more realistic with her bandwidth but also shared that she got feedback

from her Assistant Principal that she may need to scale back with the student group Again shersquos

capable of being proactive with taking on a lot but I donrsquot think I have enough evidence to say yes

or no on her ability to manage it all effectively and course correct as needed

No Morris shared an example of a time when as an Account Manager he had to navigate renewal

conversations with three different customers but spent the majority of the time discussing how

he wasnrsquot able to secure two of the renewals after focusing too heavily on one customer I probed

to learn more about his approachtechnique and he said that ldquoeverything was urgent so I didnrsquot

really have an opportunity to prioritize as much as I could haverdquo I probed more and learned that he

hadnrsquot responded to key emails from his customers and had assumed that since theyrsquod renewed

in the previous year that they would do so again Did admit to learning from the experience but Irsquom

not convinced that this example showcased his ability to do so with ease

Strong no Damon struggled to give a clear response but from what I could glean he has had a difficult

relationship with several hiring managers (HMs) in his most recent role as a full-cycle recruiter and

would often drop balls (forgetting to add notes double scheduling phone screens and not turning

around job posts quickly enough to match manager expectations) He mentioned one scenario

where he had challenges working with one HM and blamed them for the issue When I probed I

learned that Damon had neglected to ask about the candidatersquos salary requirements placing the

HM in a tough situation where they had to communicate that the candidatersquos expectations were

20 higher than the budgeted amount Damon attributed the breakdown as an ldquooversightrdquo and

shared that James (the HM) was ldquonot very likeable according to other recruiters that worked with

him beforerdquo and that he ldquoknew it would be an issuerdquo working with him on this new req

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 14

Sharing examples like these will help your team know what yoursquore

looking for Review interviewersrsquo feedback regularly Ask probing

questions about any comments that are vague or excessively

inferential Encourage them to anchor their decisions in the key

takeaways of your interview rubric

While the steps outlined above might be a pretty significant shift from

the way your team has been approaching interviewing making these

changes to your interview process can help mitigate bias and open the

door to qualified candidates from a broader range of backgrounds

Remember that you donrsquot have to do this all on your own ndash your

recruiters are your partners throughout this process Be sure to seek

their advice and input on attributes interview questions decision-

making criteria and any other area where you need a little extra

support

Pro tip

Encourage interviewers

to structure their

conversations with brief

intros (the longer the

intro the greater the

odds that an interviewer

will base their decision

on likability rather than

merit) Explain to your

team that they are

evaluating candidates

based on what they

can contribute not

popularity

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 15

Part 3 For recruiting teams

Recognizing and addressing biased behaviors in hiringAs a recruiter yoursquore responsible for the tools and processes that

shape hiring in your organization And when your company commits

to inclusive hiring a hefty portion of the responsibility will also fall on

your plate

Promoting inclusion often begins by looking at your hiring process

and putting systems in place to mitigate bias When you limit the role

bias plays in decision-making you can open the door to candidates

from traditionally underrepresented groups

In this section wersquoll offer a broad overview of how to recognize and

address bias in hiring

Recognizing biased behaviors in hiring

How can recruiters help their organizations mitigate bias in the hiring

process You can start by understanding when and where bias is likely

to pop up Wersquove summarized some of the research and collected a few

resources to help you begin your exploration of this topic

As you read through the points on the next page do any problematic

aspects of your existing process surface If so make a note to dive

deeper into those topics Wersquoll share some ideas in the next few

sections to give you a jumping-off point

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 16

bull Jargon and superficial language in job posts can

discourage women from applying and perpetuate inequality

bull Over-indexing on referrals from a homogenous workforce

(typically with less-diverse networks) can close the door for

people of color and women

bull Measuring talent through academic or employer history (both

have low predictive validity on job performance) limits access

for candidates excluded from those networks

bull People of color and women are more likely to receive offers if

another finalist shares their identity

bull Low-diversity interview teams may signal larger issues for

candidates from underrepresented groups

bull Resumes with more ldquowhite-soundingrdquo names are more likely to

be advanced in the hiring process

bull Candidates are often evaluated on their perceived ease in

assimilating or fitting into the culture rather than their capacity

to perform in the role and add to the companyrsquos culture

bull Traditional unstructured interviews are highly vulnerable to

bias ndash without consistent criteria or rubrics poorly trained

interviewers make impulse-driven decisions when evaluating

candidates

bull Interview notes are often scant high-inference or based on

likability rather than objective with examples that validate

advancement or rejection

bull Gender pay gaps persist in part because women fear reprisal for

initiating salary negotiation (from other women and men) and

compensation disparities are even wider for women of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 17

Addressing biased behaviors

Bias is a mental algorithm that can be disrupted through conscious

behavior change Effective and inclusive hiring isnrsquot so much a skill as

it is a collection of habits that can enable more inclusive outcomes and

change company cultures

Here are some practical steps you can take and tools to try out based

on the observations you noted earlier Wersquove divided these tips by

pipeline stage (sourcing screening selecting and hiring)

Sourcing

bull Clarify the attributes yoursquore looking for (capabilities performance

objectives etc) during your kickoff meeting using a structured

hiring template

bull Consider partnering with text-augmenting software like Textio

TapRecruit or Gender Decoder to expose and change the words

that may disrupt diversity at the top of your funnel

bull Solicit referrals for underrepresented talent (with added financial

incentive if possible) as an important DEampI initiative that can

also lead to greater retention and lower reports of workplace

inequity

bull The recruiting platform Gem recommends using diversity salient

strategies like targeting talent from bootcamps or affinity-based

organizations like TransTech Social and the National Society of

Black Engineers

bull Audit your job posts to determine which requirements are

essential and which are extraneous remove jargon and focus on

producing (and disseminating) content that appeals to the widest

net possible

bull Use Boolean searches in LinkedIn to find overlooked talent

by searching for alumni of colleges with high diversity indices

or affinity-based organizations like fraternities sororities and

cultural interest groups

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 18

A simple structured hiring template

Want to add more structure

to your hiring process

Here are a few questions

and points to consider next

time you open a new role

Who are you trying to hire

bull Role name

bull Department

bull Who will this person report to

bull What business objectives are you trying to meet with this role

How will you evaluate the candidate

bull Skills

bull Personality traits

bull Qualifications

What will the interview process look like

bull Define the interview stages (application review phone screen

hiring manager interview etc)

bull Decide which qualities will be assessed in each stage

bull Plan out the questions or assessments for each quality

Screening

bull Based on your structured hiring template design an effective

scorecard and create clear evaluation criteria that your

interviewers can discuss in their roundups to make informed

objective decisions when assessing candidates (see page 21 for

a quick introduction to scorecards)

bull Ensure your focus attributes are specific measurable attainable

and relevant to the role(s) yoursquore recruiting for

bull Consider integrating your companyrsquos performance management

competencies (if possible) when determining focus attributes if

you have difficulty developing new ones

bull Using the performance outcomes for the role develop a bank

of behavioral and situational interview questions that match the

complexity of the role

bull Define the range of answers for your questions from exemplary

to unacceptable and train your interviewers on how to document

their feedback in the scorecard

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 19

bull Mitigate opportunities for late-stage interviewers to be

influencedbiased by previously submitted scorecards

bull Train members of employee resource groups (ERGs) to

participate as interviewers to ensure a balance of perspectives

bull Evaluate whether leveraging skills-based hiring makes sense for

your company

bull Work samples or assessments have the highest predictive

validity for job performance and grading them anonymously can

help mitigate bias

Selecting

bull Assessments like Predictive Index can help you identify

candidates who can balance out your team

bull Establish clear consistent candidate evaluation criteria for your

interviewers to adhere to as a part of a structured hiring process

bull Train your interviewers with proper interview prep material use

focus attributes to eliminate redundancy and require detailed

low-inference and objective interview notes for every attribute

assessed

bull Review all interview feedback ask probing questions about

vague or inferential comments and encourage interviewers to

anchor their decisions in the key takeaways of your interview

rubric

Hiring

bull Audit your compensation structure to ensure that salaries are at

market rate and determine your thresholds for salary negotiation

regardless of the candidate

bull Be transparent about your compensation philosophy and

consider not allowing anyone to negotiate compensation to

drive pay equity

bull Review comments from candidate surveys to measure candidate

experience and leverage the data to make iterations where

necessary throughout your process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 20

Creating attributes

Aim for at least 3ndash6 mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive

focus attributes per category for your scorecards Consider integrating

the SMART (Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-based)

framework to ensure your interviewers are enabled to measure what

matters

Building interview questions

Collaborate with hiring managers to design custom interview questions

for each attribute deemed necessary for success in the role Aligning

these questions to your scorecard focus attributes enables your

interviewers to make informed decisions that can more accurately

predict job performance

Establishing a decision-making framework

After developing your focus attributes and interview questions be sure

to define evaluation expectations for interview teams Ideally each

attribute-aligned question will include a specific rubric that outlines what

interviewers should look for in candidate answers and assessments

You can adapt this scorecard rating system to suit your company

Scorecard essentials for everyone

Scorecards are

fundamental to structured

hiring Consistent

candidate evaluation helps

mitigate interviewer bias

reduce total interview time

and drive a more evidence-

based decision framework

for selecting the right

talent

Herersquos a high-level

overview of scorecard

essentials

Strong yes is an exemplary response that clearly addresses each

element of the question with distinct examples (if appropriate)

Yes is a solid acceptable response that addresses most or all elements

of the question with clear examples

Mixed is an inconclusive response that may partially address the

question but does not provide the interviewer with evidence about the

candidatersquos capabilities A mixed rating does not equate to ldquoI donrsquot

knowrdquo ndash when an interviewer doesnrsquot have enough evidence they

should leave the attribute blank

No is an unacceptable response that ignores most or multiple

elements of the question

Strong no is an extremely unacceptable answer that doesnrsquot address

the question at all andor contains a comment that conflicts with your

companyrsquos culture Beyond that answers may blatantly disparage

others former employers communities etc

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 21

Part 4 For business leaders

Prioritizing DEampIForward-thinking business leaders (like you) are actively focused on

elevating their DEampI practices ndash not only to ensure that their teams

accurately reflect the demographics of their local population but also

to create a work environment that offers equitable opportunities where

people of all identities can thrive

Traditionally business leaders have looked to recruiting teams to

shoulder the work of diversifying the candidates moving through their

hiring pipelines However great business leaders understand that DEampI

is a company-wide commitment starting from the top ndash at Greenhouse

we call this the Talent Maker mindset

In a world where 57 of employees believe their companies should

improve diversity among their internal workforce and 86 of job

seekers actively seek out companies with diverse employee bases

proactively building inclusive hiring practices to allow for a better

diversity of hires isnrsquot just the right thing to do ndash itrsquos the smart thing

to do

McKinsey found that companies in the top quartile for racialethnic and

gender diversity were respectively 35 and 15 more likely to have

financial returns above the national median for their particular industry

That means being great at hiring today is about a lot more than how

quickly you make a hire Itrsquos also about exercising inclusive hiring

practices and having diversity on both sides of the interview process

among your interviewers and your candidates Itrsquos about business

leaders getting involved with DEampI to generate meaningful outcomes

No matter how valiantly a recruiter works to fill the top of a recruiting

funnel with underrepresented candidates if hiring managers donrsquot

similarly prioritize inclusive hiring those candidates will inevitably

leave the funnel ndash whether by choice or through the adverse impact of

unconscious bias

Letrsquos explore some of the ways that Talent Makers can boost DEampI in

their hiring strategies

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 22

Before focusing externally look internally at your own company

Diversifying your team isnrsquot only about bringing in a new hire who can

add a new perspective Itrsquos just as much about creating an environment

that allows that new hire to share their perspective and feel heard

Some leaders may skirt conversations around identity ndash by claiming to

be ldquocolorblindrdquo when it comes to race for example ndash but great leaders

lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each

employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

Ask questions

What does all this mean through the lens of hiring As you start

thinking about how to source underrepresented candidates answer

these questions

bull Why would a candidate from an underrepresented group want to

join your team

bull How would you articulate your commitment to supporting and

advocating for them as a manager

bull If you were releasing a public statement or articulating your

companyrsquos commitment to equity in response toin solidarity

with a societal movement how would you differentiate your

company from other organizations in a way thatrsquos authentic

bull More importantly how will you hold yourself accountable over

time for driving the changes you want to see

Next take a hard look at the demographics of your team Determine

the following

bull Which demographic groups ndash including but not limited to

gender raceethnicity sexual orientation industry experience

seniority education socioeconomic status and ability status ndash

are represented

bull Which groups are you lacking or are underrepresented

bull Look for patterns in the profiles of the people yoursquove hired up to

now ndash do they imply an inclination toward a certain personality

type background set of qualifications or even raceethnicity

bull If so how are you justifying that

Great leaders lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 23

bull Could you inadvertently be screening for privilege (think

preferred schools or degrees) rather than for ability and

potential

Have the conversation

Itrsquos time to invite your team into the conversation This can be the

uncomfortable part especially if yoursquore in an environment that

doesnrsquot have a precedent for such dialogues Actively sharing why

yoursquore prioritizing DEampI will signal its importance to your team help

address any discrepancies and start building the muscle for healthy

conversations on topics like race Yoursquoll also drive new awareness

and behaviors that can have outsized impacts on who you hire by

influencing your interview panels to be more open-minded and provide

better interviewing experiences to underrepresented candidates

Finally collaborate with your people operations or HR team to review

current department demographics based on self-reported employee

data This will lead to informed discussions about which groups to

focus on when diversifying hiring pipelines which ties back to your

goals around having better representation among your employees

Write your job descriptionsjob posts through an inclusive lens

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader

is a job description for a role on your team Itrsquos the first touchpoint

candidates have with your team and it directly impacts who does ndash

and doesnrsquot ndash engage in your interview process

Here are tips on how to make your job descriptions more inclusive ndash

and more attractive to the candidates yoursquore targeting

Identify and rework inherently biased language

Countless job descriptions contain language that is gendered which

can skew your talent pool before you even interact with candidates

Platforms like Textio leverage artificial intelligence to help remove

gender bias business jargon and other phrases that reinforce

stereotypes in written content

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader is a job description for a role on your team

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 24

Describe goals and growth opportunities

Focus on describing the exciting goals and clear objectives of the

job rather than listing day-to-day responsibilities that arenrsquot tied to

outcomes This will not only inspire candidates it will also help them

decide if what theyrsquoll own and learn in your job is aligned with their

career goals

Examples of unintentionally biased language

Masculine-tone

Exhaustive

Enforcement

Fearless

Feminine-tone

Transparent

Catalyst

In touch with

Textio writes ldquoA language pattern is considered gendered if it

statistically changes the proportion of men and women who respond

to a job post containing itrdquo Their research reveals that in jobs where

a man is hired the original job post averages almost twice as many

masculine-tone phrases as feminine In jobs where a woman is hired

Textio finds the exact opposite there are twice as many feminine-tone

phrases as masculine in the job post Here are a few common phrases

that exert this type of bias effect

bull What are the goals and outcomes you want this person to achieve

bull What are the success metrics being tracked and the desired outcomes

bull What does growth look like on your team when someone delivers

quarter over quarter

bull Who will this person be actively collaborating with

Questions to answer in your job description

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 25

Focus on skills over requirements

Carefully consider each requirement yoursquore adding to your job

description Can you shift your focus away from a specific number

of years of work experience or required degrees and move toward

a candidatersquos abilities Could you take it a step further and include

verbiage that encourages candidates to apply even if they might not

have all the necessary qualifications

Get other opinions

Continue to iterate and socialize your job description Share it with

someone whorsquos currently in the role or someone who represents an

underrepresented demographic group to learn if there are better ways to

position the content Incorporating feedback from different perspectives

is key to eliminating unintentional biases in the language

Use structured hiring to mitigate unconscious bias

Now that yoursquove communicated your focus on diversity and published

an inclusive job description you might think most of your work is

behind you After all isnrsquot the process mostly in your recruiterrsquos hands

from here Not just yet Once you have candidates entering your hiring

pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices

will really be put to the test

Consider adding an inclusivity statement

Is your job description unintentionally scaring candidates away

Research shows that women tend to only apply for jobs when they meet

100 of the requirements One way to encourage candidates from

diverse backgrounds to apply is by adding an inclusivity statement to

your list of qualifications Jobs are filled 6 faster when the description

includes an inclusion message or EEO statement Herersquos the Greenhouse

version (itrsquos the last item in the list of qualifications) ldquoYour own unique

talents If you donrsquot meet 100 of the qualifications outlined above tell

us why yoursquod be a great fit for this role in your cover letterrdquo

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 26

Here are a few important things to keep in mind to stay accountable to

your commitment to DEampI

Screen in over screening out

When reviewing resumes use the framework of screening in rather

than screening out While certain jobs will have hard requirements ndash an

engineer might need fluency in a certain coding language to perform in

their job ndash many employers are placing less emphasis on a strict set of

resume qualifications when determining who to move to the next stage

and thinking about how they can invest in training people who have

potential but donrsquot have specific qualifications

When conducting interviews many hiring managers get

understandably nervous when considering candidates from

backgrounds that are not currently represented on their team That

behavior is often grounded in similar-to-me bias and perpetuates

homogeneity Pay close attention to how you and your interviewers

react to historically underrepresented candidates and actively exercise

open-mindedness Your best hire may be the person who is different

from everyone else your team has hired in the past

Use the same criteria

To create an even playing field assess all candidates against the same

hiring criteria that yoursquove determined is necessary for the role which

is the core of structured hiring Similarly make sure each candidate is

answering the same interview questions from your interviewers This

allows your interviewers not only to focus on relevant areas to assess

but also to compare candidates in a data-driven and fair way in the

event yoursquore choosing between several finalists

Diversify your panel

Finally consider your interview panel Which demographic groups are

represented and which are not represented Do you have a panel of all

men Of all the same ethnicity or race Of all millennials If the answer

is yes to any of these scenarios how are you planning to address this

elephant in the room with candidates who identify differently Put

yourself in their shoes and be prepared to clearly explain why creating

a more diverse team is a priority for you

Once you have candidates entering your hiring pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices will really be put to the test

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 27

Measure wins by progress and improvements

If you donrsquot already have an extensive DEampI program at your

organization figuring out where to start can be challenging Who we

are informs everything we do ndash who we hire what we observe where

we live how we communicate ndash and it can be tough to know where to

focus when checking our own potential biases However starting with a

deep reflection of your hiring process is a way to take ownership of your

responsibility as a business leader to prioritize DEampI Your commitment

may not produce immediate results since company demographics

arenrsquot something that can change overnight but your efforts will drive

meaningful and positive change in the long run with respect to who you

hire and advocate for in your company

Own your influence As a leader you have the ability to influence others through your words

and actions Consider the ways you can demonstrate your commitment

to DEampI Here are some ideas to get you started

bull Sponsor an employee resource group and commit to helping

them achieve their goals

bull Attend diversity sourcing events and invite coworkers to join you

bull Refer candidates from overlookedunderrepresented groups to

open roles throughout your organization

bull Look for local organizations you can partner with ndash perhaps

you can sponsor a hackathon offer an internship or otherwise

support their mission

bull Ask for feedback and suggestions ndash your team might already

have some great ideas about how to prioritize DEampI

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 28

Part 5 For everyone

Creating an inclusive candidate experience to build stronger more diverse teamsEvery person in your company ndash regardless of their job title ndash can

contribute to inclusive hiring Whether theyrsquore making referrals

interviewing candidates or talking to prospects their actions can

have an impact on candidate experience Thatrsquos why itrsquos essential

to be intentional about the role everyone plays

Here are a few ways to create an inclusive candidate experience

Structured hiring

Structured hiring is an approach where selection decisions are

based on evidence not emotion Leaders align the role to a business

objective and build a rigorous and objective interview process

through conversations assignments and the like that can be used to

predict job performance Candidates are asked consistent questions

that connect back to specific attributes required for the role and

interviewers evaluate responses against a defined rating system in

the interview scorecard

In previous sections we covered how hiring managers and recruiters

can partner to implement structured hiring Remember that rolling

it out to your entire company will take time and effort Everyone

involved in the interview process will need to be trained on things

like how to conduct interviews take notes and score candidates

Consider integrating this training into new hire onboarding team

offsites or manager professional development to ensure everyone

stays up to date

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 29

Defining and hiring for culture add

Over the past several years wersquove seen companies move away

from assessing candidates on their ldquoculture fitrdquo because this term

can lead to homogeneous hiring But many companies still want

a way to determine whether candidates are aligned with their values

This is where ldquoculture addrdquo or values interviews can come into play

Culture-add interviews also give candidates the chance to meet

people from other teams and departments to get a broader sense of

your company culture

If culture-add interviews are part of your hiring process (or you want

them to be) yoursquoll want to consider the following

bull Who conducts culture-add interviews What is the selection

process like for identifying these interviewers within your

company and training them

bull Which questions does the culture-add interview cover How do

you define great acceptable and unacceptable answers

bull How often will you revisit and update this process

Hiring Maturity success story Neil Casey ThoughtWorks

In this limited podcast

series Greenhouse

President and Co-

founder Jon Stross sat

down with talent leaders

from leading companies

to discuss their Hiring

Maturity journeys Listen

in as Jon invites Neil

Casey Global Head of

Sourcing and Strategic

Hiring at ThoughtWorks

to discuss building an

inclusive hiring process

at scale

Explore the Greenhouse DEampI feature set

Take structured interviewing to the next level with solutions that enable

recruiters interviewers and hiring managers to operationalize and

scale fairer hiring practices Herersquos a brief overview of the Greenhouse

DEampI feature set

Data collection and reporting ndash Track self-reported applicant

demographic data throughout the hiring funnel (from sourcing

to offer) and measure pass-throughdrop-off rates

In-the-moment interventions ndash Reminders that nudge users to

slow down and avoid instinctive mental shortcuts that arenrsquot

rooted in evidence or tied to job-relevant criteria

Structured decision-making ndash Added guardrails that support

a more objective selection process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 30

Encouraging an inclusive approach to employee referrals

Employee referrals are a great way to get everyone involved in the

hiring process Itrsquos exciting to have a hand in shaping the future of your

company while helping someone in your network land their next role

But certain groups tend to benefit from referrals more than others

which can lead to more homogeneity

The good news is that referrals donrsquot automatically lead to

homogeneous hires according to research by DEampI consultancy

Paradigm They partnered with Pinterest to determine why employee

referrals tend to be homogenous Is it because peoplersquos networks

are truly that homogenous or is it due to pattern-matching bias

(employees are looking around at their coworkers and only thinking

of people who are similar to the existing team) Paradigm found that

when a leader asked employees to be more mindful about diversity

when offering referrals especially people of color and women it made

a tangible impact over the following six weeks So be sure to encourage

employees to consider diversity when making referrals

DonorsChoose takes a data-driven approach to DEampI in their hiring

DonorsChoosersquos challenge Develop a hiring process that aligns with

the organizationrsquos commitment to DEampI in their work in education

DonorsChoose has a high standard for their DEampI hiring efforts and

wanted to intentionally drive a more diverse candidate pool To do so

they had to prioritize gathering better data on diversity in their hiring

pools Without that data conversations between the People and Talent

team and hiring managers felt uninformed and ineffective

DonorsChoose wanted data at their fingertips to drive their DEampI

hiring efforts The Greenhouse DEampI feature set offered them a robust

set of tools Since turning on custom demographic reporting the

DonorsChoose team has seen an improvement and recognized that

now 58 of the candidates who have made it to the face-to-face

interview stage at DonorsChoose have identified as people of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 31

ConclusionWe recommend sitting with these strategies for a few days rather than

immediately jumping into action Take time to reflect on your next

steps and collaborate with your internal partners in order to create the

optimal DEampI hiring strategy for your company

Remember that when it comes to DEampI therersquos no ldquoend staterdquo to arrive

at Wersquore all on the same journey of curiosity listening progress and

discovery

If yoursquod like to do further reading or research on any of the topics we

covered wersquove curated a list of recommended reading for you

We are your partners and allies and stand beside you in this work and

will help you as best we can All of us at Greenhouse are committed to

bringing about lasting change and we will be your partner in creating

a more equitable hiring process so you can build more inclusive

stronger teams

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 32

Recommended reading

DEampI strategy Creating an Effective Diversity and Inclusion

Program

DEampI strategy Hiring Diverse Candidates is Not Enough ndash

Itrsquos About Keeping Them

DEampI strategy Toward a Racially Just Workplace

DEampI strategy Why So Many Organizations Stay White

DEampI strategy Do Your DampI Efforts Include People with

Disabilities

Hiring If Therersquos Only One Woman in Your Candidate

Pool Therersquos Statisically No Chance Shersquoll Be

Hired

Hiring A Data-Driven Approach to Hiring More

Diverse Talent

Hiring How to Alter Your Hiring Practices to Increase

Diversity

Hiring Research How Speech Patterns Lead to

Hiring Bias

Intersectionality Do Your Diversity Efforts Reflect the

Experiences of Women of Color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 33

Recommended reading (continued)

Sourcing Could This Be The Secret To Hiring More

Women And People Of Color

Sourcing Diversity Sourcing Strategy 3 LinkedIn

Search Tips from Boolean Master Glen

Cathey

Sourcing How to increase workplace diversity with

employee referrals

Unconscious bias Managing Unconscious Bias Strategies to

Manage Bias amp Build More Diverse Inclusive

Organizations

Unconscious bias 50 Ways to Fight Bias

Unconscious bias 12 Unconscious Bias Examples and How to

Avoid Them in the Workplace

Unconscious bias Harvard Project Implicit Association Tests

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 34

Greenhouse is the hiring software company

We help businesses be great at hiring through

our powerful hiring approach complete suite of

software and services and large partner ecosystem ndash

so businesses can hire for whatrsquos next

To learn more visit

greenhouseio

Page 12: eBook Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company

Herersquos an example rubric for assessing responses to ldquoTell me about

a time when you were communicating with someone and they didnrsquot

understand you What did you dordquo

Strong no No Mixed Yes Strong yes

Provides an unclear

description of

the relationship

dynamiccontext and

struggles to outline

their summary of

the situation to the

interviewer

Offers an indistinct

summary of the

intended message and

does not acknowledge

any unique relationship

dynamicsadded

context that may

have contributed to

the communication

breakdown

Does not take

accountability for

their role in the

communication

breakdown (for

example ldquoI donrsquot

see why they didnrsquot

understandrdquo) and has

not demonstrated how

they learned from this

situation for future

conversations with the

person or others in the

workplace

Offers a vague

depiction of the

situation (the message

they were looking to

convey the relationship

with the other person

and where the

miscommunication

occurred)

Provides a loose

outline of the steps

taken to identify a

plan to remedy the

communication

breakdown OR a

cursory summary of

what they learned from

the experience

Demonstrates empathy

for the other person

but does not leverage

it in articulating

their strategy

for revising their

approach for follow-up

conversations

Clearly defines the

intended vision of

the message for the

other person and

discusses wherehow

the message was lost in

translation

Acknowledges any

unique or relevant

relationship dynamics

that might have

contributed to the

message not being

clearly interpreted

Demonstrates empathy

in identifying the source

of the communication

breakdown and holds

self accountable

for identifying an

alternative way to

communicate with the

person

Clarifies any

subsequent steps

in preserving and

or growing the

relationship with

the person and

added measures

taken in adjusting

communication

(delivery style

approach) for other

conversations

Clearly defines the

intended vision of

the message for the

other person and

discusses wherehow

the message was lost in

translation

Acknowledges any

unique or relevant

relationship dynamics

that might have

contributed to the

message not being

clearly interpreted

Demonstrates empathy

in identifying the source

of the communication

breakdown and holds

self accountable

for identifying an

alternative way to

communicate with the

person

Clarifies any

subsequent steps

in preserving and

or growing the

relationship with

the person and

added measures

taken in adjusting

communication

(delivery style

approach) for other

conversations

Considers the

experience a learning

opportunity to iterate

and situate their

communication style to

match the expectations

of the audience

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 12

Step 4

Train your interviewers on taking notes that are rooted in evidence not inference

Finally yoursquoll need to hold interviewers accountable for capturing

detailed objective notes from every interview

Itrsquos important to note that without coaching interviewers probably

wonrsquot know how to do this You can help them by providing detailed

examples of what yoursquore looking for

Here are some sample scorecard notes

Rating Notes

Strong yes Lucia discussed her experience in her current role as Director of People where she is currently

responsible for recruitinghiring (8 roles to be filled within the next 2 months in their DC Ohio and

Atlanta markets) coordinating logistics (flights lodging meals programming) for an upcoming

national new hire orientation (15 attendees) and planning for the company-wide (150 ppl)

offsite retreat For hiring she mentioned how she schedules phone screens at various intervals

throughout the day and commits to taking notes on the call and scheduling next-round interviews

with hiring managers Structures days around certain ldquowork blocksrdquo where she knows what needs

to get done and will communicate if things are either taking longer than expected or if there are

roadblocks and collaborates as needed to find solutions Mentioned that she is a huge fan of

automation (Google Calendarrsquos DNS blocks) and keeps a scrolling list of to-do items Shared that

strong relationships with hiring managers made things a lot easier with schedulingprocess and

that the orientation went off without a hitch Team retreat was a multi-month effort and the team

enjoyed the experience more than the previous year both programmatically and logistically

Yes Joseacute shared about working as a Program Manager with a youth-development nonprofit and how

they were tapped to work on special projects from the Chief Program Officer on top of navigating

a complex situation with their school partner and how theyrsquove been ldquogetting their feet wetrdquo by

working with the development team on an upcoming funding proposal Their answers lacked

some detail (didnrsquot provide a backstory about the relationship with the school partner ldquothings

have always been tense but Irsquove been trying to remain positiverdquo) but were overall solid in how

theyrsquod tried to use time-tracking software to set alarms for when it was time to pivot and focus on

a different task They did mention that the team was short-staffed and that was why they decided

to step up and take on more responsibility even though they knew it would require additional work

on their end and being more organized Talked about how they have regular syncs with the CPO

to offer updates on their progress Also set up a weekly 2-hour block to work onedit the funding

proposal as theyrsquore interested in ldquodeveloping musclerdquo in fundraising

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 13

Mixed I gave Janet a ldquomixedrdquo here because I wasnrsquot convinced that her approach toward balancing

multiple projects was actually impactful or effective despite her laying out all the different steps

she took We talked about her experience as a second-year teacher (at a brand-new school)

juggling making parent calls grading lesson planning and her responsibilities as a self-appointed

sponsor for the schoolrsquos LGBTQ+ student association She talked about how she was able to use a

calendar and alerts in her phone but when probed admitted to having dropped a lot of balls with

grading student assignments since she was more focused on lesson planning and being present

for the student group Admitted that she could have done a much better job with balancing her

schedule and being more realistic with her bandwidth but also shared that she got feedback

from her Assistant Principal that she may need to scale back with the student group Again shersquos

capable of being proactive with taking on a lot but I donrsquot think I have enough evidence to say yes

or no on her ability to manage it all effectively and course correct as needed

No Morris shared an example of a time when as an Account Manager he had to navigate renewal

conversations with three different customers but spent the majority of the time discussing how

he wasnrsquot able to secure two of the renewals after focusing too heavily on one customer I probed

to learn more about his approachtechnique and he said that ldquoeverything was urgent so I didnrsquot

really have an opportunity to prioritize as much as I could haverdquo I probed more and learned that he

hadnrsquot responded to key emails from his customers and had assumed that since theyrsquod renewed

in the previous year that they would do so again Did admit to learning from the experience but Irsquom

not convinced that this example showcased his ability to do so with ease

Strong no Damon struggled to give a clear response but from what I could glean he has had a difficult

relationship with several hiring managers (HMs) in his most recent role as a full-cycle recruiter and

would often drop balls (forgetting to add notes double scheduling phone screens and not turning

around job posts quickly enough to match manager expectations) He mentioned one scenario

where he had challenges working with one HM and blamed them for the issue When I probed I

learned that Damon had neglected to ask about the candidatersquos salary requirements placing the

HM in a tough situation where they had to communicate that the candidatersquos expectations were

20 higher than the budgeted amount Damon attributed the breakdown as an ldquooversightrdquo and

shared that James (the HM) was ldquonot very likeable according to other recruiters that worked with

him beforerdquo and that he ldquoknew it would be an issuerdquo working with him on this new req

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 14

Sharing examples like these will help your team know what yoursquore

looking for Review interviewersrsquo feedback regularly Ask probing

questions about any comments that are vague or excessively

inferential Encourage them to anchor their decisions in the key

takeaways of your interview rubric

While the steps outlined above might be a pretty significant shift from

the way your team has been approaching interviewing making these

changes to your interview process can help mitigate bias and open the

door to qualified candidates from a broader range of backgrounds

Remember that you donrsquot have to do this all on your own ndash your

recruiters are your partners throughout this process Be sure to seek

their advice and input on attributes interview questions decision-

making criteria and any other area where you need a little extra

support

Pro tip

Encourage interviewers

to structure their

conversations with brief

intros (the longer the

intro the greater the

odds that an interviewer

will base their decision

on likability rather than

merit) Explain to your

team that they are

evaluating candidates

based on what they

can contribute not

popularity

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 15

Part 3 For recruiting teams

Recognizing and addressing biased behaviors in hiringAs a recruiter yoursquore responsible for the tools and processes that

shape hiring in your organization And when your company commits

to inclusive hiring a hefty portion of the responsibility will also fall on

your plate

Promoting inclusion often begins by looking at your hiring process

and putting systems in place to mitigate bias When you limit the role

bias plays in decision-making you can open the door to candidates

from traditionally underrepresented groups

In this section wersquoll offer a broad overview of how to recognize and

address bias in hiring

Recognizing biased behaviors in hiring

How can recruiters help their organizations mitigate bias in the hiring

process You can start by understanding when and where bias is likely

to pop up Wersquove summarized some of the research and collected a few

resources to help you begin your exploration of this topic

As you read through the points on the next page do any problematic

aspects of your existing process surface If so make a note to dive

deeper into those topics Wersquoll share some ideas in the next few

sections to give you a jumping-off point

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 16

bull Jargon and superficial language in job posts can

discourage women from applying and perpetuate inequality

bull Over-indexing on referrals from a homogenous workforce

(typically with less-diverse networks) can close the door for

people of color and women

bull Measuring talent through academic or employer history (both

have low predictive validity on job performance) limits access

for candidates excluded from those networks

bull People of color and women are more likely to receive offers if

another finalist shares their identity

bull Low-diversity interview teams may signal larger issues for

candidates from underrepresented groups

bull Resumes with more ldquowhite-soundingrdquo names are more likely to

be advanced in the hiring process

bull Candidates are often evaluated on their perceived ease in

assimilating or fitting into the culture rather than their capacity

to perform in the role and add to the companyrsquos culture

bull Traditional unstructured interviews are highly vulnerable to

bias ndash without consistent criteria or rubrics poorly trained

interviewers make impulse-driven decisions when evaluating

candidates

bull Interview notes are often scant high-inference or based on

likability rather than objective with examples that validate

advancement or rejection

bull Gender pay gaps persist in part because women fear reprisal for

initiating salary negotiation (from other women and men) and

compensation disparities are even wider for women of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 17

Addressing biased behaviors

Bias is a mental algorithm that can be disrupted through conscious

behavior change Effective and inclusive hiring isnrsquot so much a skill as

it is a collection of habits that can enable more inclusive outcomes and

change company cultures

Here are some practical steps you can take and tools to try out based

on the observations you noted earlier Wersquove divided these tips by

pipeline stage (sourcing screening selecting and hiring)

Sourcing

bull Clarify the attributes yoursquore looking for (capabilities performance

objectives etc) during your kickoff meeting using a structured

hiring template

bull Consider partnering with text-augmenting software like Textio

TapRecruit or Gender Decoder to expose and change the words

that may disrupt diversity at the top of your funnel

bull Solicit referrals for underrepresented talent (with added financial

incentive if possible) as an important DEampI initiative that can

also lead to greater retention and lower reports of workplace

inequity

bull The recruiting platform Gem recommends using diversity salient

strategies like targeting talent from bootcamps or affinity-based

organizations like TransTech Social and the National Society of

Black Engineers

bull Audit your job posts to determine which requirements are

essential and which are extraneous remove jargon and focus on

producing (and disseminating) content that appeals to the widest

net possible

bull Use Boolean searches in LinkedIn to find overlooked talent

by searching for alumni of colleges with high diversity indices

or affinity-based organizations like fraternities sororities and

cultural interest groups

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 18

A simple structured hiring template

Want to add more structure

to your hiring process

Here are a few questions

and points to consider next

time you open a new role

Who are you trying to hire

bull Role name

bull Department

bull Who will this person report to

bull What business objectives are you trying to meet with this role

How will you evaluate the candidate

bull Skills

bull Personality traits

bull Qualifications

What will the interview process look like

bull Define the interview stages (application review phone screen

hiring manager interview etc)

bull Decide which qualities will be assessed in each stage

bull Plan out the questions or assessments for each quality

Screening

bull Based on your structured hiring template design an effective

scorecard and create clear evaluation criteria that your

interviewers can discuss in their roundups to make informed

objective decisions when assessing candidates (see page 21 for

a quick introduction to scorecards)

bull Ensure your focus attributes are specific measurable attainable

and relevant to the role(s) yoursquore recruiting for

bull Consider integrating your companyrsquos performance management

competencies (if possible) when determining focus attributes if

you have difficulty developing new ones

bull Using the performance outcomes for the role develop a bank

of behavioral and situational interview questions that match the

complexity of the role

bull Define the range of answers for your questions from exemplary

to unacceptable and train your interviewers on how to document

their feedback in the scorecard

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 19

bull Mitigate opportunities for late-stage interviewers to be

influencedbiased by previously submitted scorecards

bull Train members of employee resource groups (ERGs) to

participate as interviewers to ensure a balance of perspectives

bull Evaluate whether leveraging skills-based hiring makes sense for

your company

bull Work samples or assessments have the highest predictive

validity for job performance and grading them anonymously can

help mitigate bias

Selecting

bull Assessments like Predictive Index can help you identify

candidates who can balance out your team

bull Establish clear consistent candidate evaluation criteria for your

interviewers to adhere to as a part of a structured hiring process

bull Train your interviewers with proper interview prep material use

focus attributes to eliminate redundancy and require detailed

low-inference and objective interview notes for every attribute

assessed

bull Review all interview feedback ask probing questions about

vague or inferential comments and encourage interviewers to

anchor their decisions in the key takeaways of your interview

rubric

Hiring

bull Audit your compensation structure to ensure that salaries are at

market rate and determine your thresholds for salary negotiation

regardless of the candidate

bull Be transparent about your compensation philosophy and

consider not allowing anyone to negotiate compensation to

drive pay equity

bull Review comments from candidate surveys to measure candidate

experience and leverage the data to make iterations where

necessary throughout your process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 20

Creating attributes

Aim for at least 3ndash6 mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive

focus attributes per category for your scorecards Consider integrating

the SMART (Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-based)

framework to ensure your interviewers are enabled to measure what

matters

Building interview questions

Collaborate with hiring managers to design custom interview questions

for each attribute deemed necessary for success in the role Aligning

these questions to your scorecard focus attributes enables your

interviewers to make informed decisions that can more accurately

predict job performance

Establishing a decision-making framework

After developing your focus attributes and interview questions be sure

to define evaluation expectations for interview teams Ideally each

attribute-aligned question will include a specific rubric that outlines what

interviewers should look for in candidate answers and assessments

You can adapt this scorecard rating system to suit your company

Scorecard essentials for everyone

Scorecards are

fundamental to structured

hiring Consistent

candidate evaluation helps

mitigate interviewer bias

reduce total interview time

and drive a more evidence-

based decision framework

for selecting the right

talent

Herersquos a high-level

overview of scorecard

essentials

Strong yes is an exemplary response that clearly addresses each

element of the question with distinct examples (if appropriate)

Yes is a solid acceptable response that addresses most or all elements

of the question with clear examples

Mixed is an inconclusive response that may partially address the

question but does not provide the interviewer with evidence about the

candidatersquos capabilities A mixed rating does not equate to ldquoI donrsquot

knowrdquo ndash when an interviewer doesnrsquot have enough evidence they

should leave the attribute blank

No is an unacceptable response that ignores most or multiple

elements of the question

Strong no is an extremely unacceptable answer that doesnrsquot address

the question at all andor contains a comment that conflicts with your

companyrsquos culture Beyond that answers may blatantly disparage

others former employers communities etc

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 21

Part 4 For business leaders

Prioritizing DEampIForward-thinking business leaders (like you) are actively focused on

elevating their DEampI practices ndash not only to ensure that their teams

accurately reflect the demographics of their local population but also

to create a work environment that offers equitable opportunities where

people of all identities can thrive

Traditionally business leaders have looked to recruiting teams to

shoulder the work of diversifying the candidates moving through their

hiring pipelines However great business leaders understand that DEampI

is a company-wide commitment starting from the top ndash at Greenhouse

we call this the Talent Maker mindset

In a world where 57 of employees believe their companies should

improve diversity among their internal workforce and 86 of job

seekers actively seek out companies with diverse employee bases

proactively building inclusive hiring practices to allow for a better

diversity of hires isnrsquot just the right thing to do ndash itrsquos the smart thing

to do

McKinsey found that companies in the top quartile for racialethnic and

gender diversity were respectively 35 and 15 more likely to have

financial returns above the national median for their particular industry

That means being great at hiring today is about a lot more than how

quickly you make a hire Itrsquos also about exercising inclusive hiring

practices and having diversity on both sides of the interview process

among your interviewers and your candidates Itrsquos about business

leaders getting involved with DEampI to generate meaningful outcomes

No matter how valiantly a recruiter works to fill the top of a recruiting

funnel with underrepresented candidates if hiring managers donrsquot

similarly prioritize inclusive hiring those candidates will inevitably

leave the funnel ndash whether by choice or through the adverse impact of

unconscious bias

Letrsquos explore some of the ways that Talent Makers can boost DEampI in

their hiring strategies

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 22

Before focusing externally look internally at your own company

Diversifying your team isnrsquot only about bringing in a new hire who can

add a new perspective Itrsquos just as much about creating an environment

that allows that new hire to share their perspective and feel heard

Some leaders may skirt conversations around identity ndash by claiming to

be ldquocolorblindrdquo when it comes to race for example ndash but great leaders

lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each

employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

Ask questions

What does all this mean through the lens of hiring As you start

thinking about how to source underrepresented candidates answer

these questions

bull Why would a candidate from an underrepresented group want to

join your team

bull How would you articulate your commitment to supporting and

advocating for them as a manager

bull If you were releasing a public statement or articulating your

companyrsquos commitment to equity in response toin solidarity

with a societal movement how would you differentiate your

company from other organizations in a way thatrsquos authentic

bull More importantly how will you hold yourself accountable over

time for driving the changes you want to see

Next take a hard look at the demographics of your team Determine

the following

bull Which demographic groups ndash including but not limited to

gender raceethnicity sexual orientation industry experience

seniority education socioeconomic status and ability status ndash

are represented

bull Which groups are you lacking or are underrepresented

bull Look for patterns in the profiles of the people yoursquove hired up to

now ndash do they imply an inclination toward a certain personality

type background set of qualifications or even raceethnicity

bull If so how are you justifying that

Great leaders lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 23

bull Could you inadvertently be screening for privilege (think

preferred schools or degrees) rather than for ability and

potential

Have the conversation

Itrsquos time to invite your team into the conversation This can be the

uncomfortable part especially if yoursquore in an environment that

doesnrsquot have a precedent for such dialogues Actively sharing why

yoursquore prioritizing DEampI will signal its importance to your team help

address any discrepancies and start building the muscle for healthy

conversations on topics like race Yoursquoll also drive new awareness

and behaviors that can have outsized impacts on who you hire by

influencing your interview panels to be more open-minded and provide

better interviewing experiences to underrepresented candidates

Finally collaborate with your people operations or HR team to review

current department demographics based on self-reported employee

data This will lead to informed discussions about which groups to

focus on when diversifying hiring pipelines which ties back to your

goals around having better representation among your employees

Write your job descriptionsjob posts through an inclusive lens

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader

is a job description for a role on your team Itrsquos the first touchpoint

candidates have with your team and it directly impacts who does ndash

and doesnrsquot ndash engage in your interview process

Here are tips on how to make your job descriptions more inclusive ndash

and more attractive to the candidates yoursquore targeting

Identify and rework inherently biased language

Countless job descriptions contain language that is gendered which

can skew your talent pool before you even interact with candidates

Platforms like Textio leverage artificial intelligence to help remove

gender bias business jargon and other phrases that reinforce

stereotypes in written content

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader is a job description for a role on your team

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 24

Describe goals and growth opportunities

Focus on describing the exciting goals and clear objectives of the

job rather than listing day-to-day responsibilities that arenrsquot tied to

outcomes This will not only inspire candidates it will also help them

decide if what theyrsquoll own and learn in your job is aligned with their

career goals

Examples of unintentionally biased language

Masculine-tone

Exhaustive

Enforcement

Fearless

Feminine-tone

Transparent

Catalyst

In touch with

Textio writes ldquoA language pattern is considered gendered if it

statistically changes the proportion of men and women who respond

to a job post containing itrdquo Their research reveals that in jobs where

a man is hired the original job post averages almost twice as many

masculine-tone phrases as feminine In jobs where a woman is hired

Textio finds the exact opposite there are twice as many feminine-tone

phrases as masculine in the job post Here are a few common phrases

that exert this type of bias effect

bull What are the goals and outcomes you want this person to achieve

bull What are the success metrics being tracked and the desired outcomes

bull What does growth look like on your team when someone delivers

quarter over quarter

bull Who will this person be actively collaborating with

Questions to answer in your job description

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 25

Focus on skills over requirements

Carefully consider each requirement yoursquore adding to your job

description Can you shift your focus away from a specific number

of years of work experience or required degrees and move toward

a candidatersquos abilities Could you take it a step further and include

verbiage that encourages candidates to apply even if they might not

have all the necessary qualifications

Get other opinions

Continue to iterate and socialize your job description Share it with

someone whorsquos currently in the role or someone who represents an

underrepresented demographic group to learn if there are better ways to

position the content Incorporating feedback from different perspectives

is key to eliminating unintentional biases in the language

Use structured hiring to mitigate unconscious bias

Now that yoursquove communicated your focus on diversity and published

an inclusive job description you might think most of your work is

behind you After all isnrsquot the process mostly in your recruiterrsquos hands

from here Not just yet Once you have candidates entering your hiring

pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices

will really be put to the test

Consider adding an inclusivity statement

Is your job description unintentionally scaring candidates away

Research shows that women tend to only apply for jobs when they meet

100 of the requirements One way to encourage candidates from

diverse backgrounds to apply is by adding an inclusivity statement to

your list of qualifications Jobs are filled 6 faster when the description

includes an inclusion message or EEO statement Herersquos the Greenhouse

version (itrsquos the last item in the list of qualifications) ldquoYour own unique

talents If you donrsquot meet 100 of the qualifications outlined above tell

us why yoursquod be a great fit for this role in your cover letterrdquo

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 26

Here are a few important things to keep in mind to stay accountable to

your commitment to DEampI

Screen in over screening out

When reviewing resumes use the framework of screening in rather

than screening out While certain jobs will have hard requirements ndash an

engineer might need fluency in a certain coding language to perform in

their job ndash many employers are placing less emphasis on a strict set of

resume qualifications when determining who to move to the next stage

and thinking about how they can invest in training people who have

potential but donrsquot have specific qualifications

When conducting interviews many hiring managers get

understandably nervous when considering candidates from

backgrounds that are not currently represented on their team That

behavior is often grounded in similar-to-me bias and perpetuates

homogeneity Pay close attention to how you and your interviewers

react to historically underrepresented candidates and actively exercise

open-mindedness Your best hire may be the person who is different

from everyone else your team has hired in the past

Use the same criteria

To create an even playing field assess all candidates against the same

hiring criteria that yoursquove determined is necessary for the role which

is the core of structured hiring Similarly make sure each candidate is

answering the same interview questions from your interviewers This

allows your interviewers not only to focus on relevant areas to assess

but also to compare candidates in a data-driven and fair way in the

event yoursquore choosing between several finalists

Diversify your panel

Finally consider your interview panel Which demographic groups are

represented and which are not represented Do you have a panel of all

men Of all the same ethnicity or race Of all millennials If the answer

is yes to any of these scenarios how are you planning to address this

elephant in the room with candidates who identify differently Put

yourself in their shoes and be prepared to clearly explain why creating

a more diverse team is a priority for you

Once you have candidates entering your hiring pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices will really be put to the test

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 27

Measure wins by progress and improvements

If you donrsquot already have an extensive DEampI program at your

organization figuring out where to start can be challenging Who we

are informs everything we do ndash who we hire what we observe where

we live how we communicate ndash and it can be tough to know where to

focus when checking our own potential biases However starting with a

deep reflection of your hiring process is a way to take ownership of your

responsibility as a business leader to prioritize DEampI Your commitment

may not produce immediate results since company demographics

arenrsquot something that can change overnight but your efforts will drive

meaningful and positive change in the long run with respect to who you

hire and advocate for in your company

Own your influence As a leader you have the ability to influence others through your words

and actions Consider the ways you can demonstrate your commitment

to DEampI Here are some ideas to get you started

bull Sponsor an employee resource group and commit to helping

them achieve their goals

bull Attend diversity sourcing events and invite coworkers to join you

bull Refer candidates from overlookedunderrepresented groups to

open roles throughout your organization

bull Look for local organizations you can partner with ndash perhaps

you can sponsor a hackathon offer an internship or otherwise

support their mission

bull Ask for feedback and suggestions ndash your team might already

have some great ideas about how to prioritize DEampI

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 28

Part 5 For everyone

Creating an inclusive candidate experience to build stronger more diverse teamsEvery person in your company ndash regardless of their job title ndash can

contribute to inclusive hiring Whether theyrsquore making referrals

interviewing candidates or talking to prospects their actions can

have an impact on candidate experience Thatrsquos why itrsquos essential

to be intentional about the role everyone plays

Here are a few ways to create an inclusive candidate experience

Structured hiring

Structured hiring is an approach where selection decisions are

based on evidence not emotion Leaders align the role to a business

objective and build a rigorous and objective interview process

through conversations assignments and the like that can be used to

predict job performance Candidates are asked consistent questions

that connect back to specific attributes required for the role and

interviewers evaluate responses against a defined rating system in

the interview scorecard

In previous sections we covered how hiring managers and recruiters

can partner to implement structured hiring Remember that rolling

it out to your entire company will take time and effort Everyone

involved in the interview process will need to be trained on things

like how to conduct interviews take notes and score candidates

Consider integrating this training into new hire onboarding team

offsites or manager professional development to ensure everyone

stays up to date

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 29

Defining and hiring for culture add

Over the past several years wersquove seen companies move away

from assessing candidates on their ldquoculture fitrdquo because this term

can lead to homogeneous hiring But many companies still want

a way to determine whether candidates are aligned with their values

This is where ldquoculture addrdquo or values interviews can come into play

Culture-add interviews also give candidates the chance to meet

people from other teams and departments to get a broader sense of

your company culture

If culture-add interviews are part of your hiring process (or you want

them to be) yoursquoll want to consider the following

bull Who conducts culture-add interviews What is the selection

process like for identifying these interviewers within your

company and training them

bull Which questions does the culture-add interview cover How do

you define great acceptable and unacceptable answers

bull How often will you revisit and update this process

Hiring Maturity success story Neil Casey ThoughtWorks

In this limited podcast

series Greenhouse

President and Co-

founder Jon Stross sat

down with talent leaders

from leading companies

to discuss their Hiring

Maturity journeys Listen

in as Jon invites Neil

Casey Global Head of

Sourcing and Strategic

Hiring at ThoughtWorks

to discuss building an

inclusive hiring process

at scale

Explore the Greenhouse DEampI feature set

Take structured interviewing to the next level with solutions that enable

recruiters interviewers and hiring managers to operationalize and

scale fairer hiring practices Herersquos a brief overview of the Greenhouse

DEampI feature set

Data collection and reporting ndash Track self-reported applicant

demographic data throughout the hiring funnel (from sourcing

to offer) and measure pass-throughdrop-off rates

In-the-moment interventions ndash Reminders that nudge users to

slow down and avoid instinctive mental shortcuts that arenrsquot

rooted in evidence or tied to job-relevant criteria

Structured decision-making ndash Added guardrails that support

a more objective selection process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 30

Encouraging an inclusive approach to employee referrals

Employee referrals are a great way to get everyone involved in the

hiring process Itrsquos exciting to have a hand in shaping the future of your

company while helping someone in your network land their next role

But certain groups tend to benefit from referrals more than others

which can lead to more homogeneity

The good news is that referrals donrsquot automatically lead to

homogeneous hires according to research by DEampI consultancy

Paradigm They partnered with Pinterest to determine why employee

referrals tend to be homogenous Is it because peoplersquos networks

are truly that homogenous or is it due to pattern-matching bias

(employees are looking around at their coworkers and only thinking

of people who are similar to the existing team) Paradigm found that

when a leader asked employees to be more mindful about diversity

when offering referrals especially people of color and women it made

a tangible impact over the following six weeks So be sure to encourage

employees to consider diversity when making referrals

DonorsChoose takes a data-driven approach to DEampI in their hiring

DonorsChoosersquos challenge Develop a hiring process that aligns with

the organizationrsquos commitment to DEampI in their work in education

DonorsChoose has a high standard for their DEampI hiring efforts and

wanted to intentionally drive a more diverse candidate pool To do so

they had to prioritize gathering better data on diversity in their hiring

pools Without that data conversations between the People and Talent

team and hiring managers felt uninformed and ineffective

DonorsChoose wanted data at their fingertips to drive their DEampI

hiring efforts The Greenhouse DEampI feature set offered them a robust

set of tools Since turning on custom demographic reporting the

DonorsChoose team has seen an improvement and recognized that

now 58 of the candidates who have made it to the face-to-face

interview stage at DonorsChoose have identified as people of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 31

ConclusionWe recommend sitting with these strategies for a few days rather than

immediately jumping into action Take time to reflect on your next

steps and collaborate with your internal partners in order to create the

optimal DEampI hiring strategy for your company

Remember that when it comes to DEampI therersquos no ldquoend staterdquo to arrive

at Wersquore all on the same journey of curiosity listening progress and

discovery

If yoursquod like to do further reading or research on any of the topics we

covered wersquove curated a list of recommended reading for you

We are your partners and allies and stand beside you in this work and

will help you as best we can All of us at Greenhouse are committed to

bringing about lasting change and we will be your partner in creating

a more equitable hiring process so you can build more inclusive

stronger teams

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 32

Recommended reading

DEampI strategy Creating an Effective Diversity and Inclusion

Program

DEampI strategy Hiring Diverse Candidates is Not Enough ndash

Itrsquos About Keeping Them

DEampI strategy Toward a Racially Just Workplace

DEampI strategy Why So Many Organizations Stay White

DEampI strategy Do Your DampI Efforts Include People with

Disabilities

Hiring If Therersquos Only One Woman in Your Candidate

Pool Therersquos Statisically No Chance Shersquoll Be

Hired

Hiring A Data-Driven Approach to Hiring More

Diverse Talent

Hiring How to Alter Your Hiring Practices to Increase

Diversity

Hiring Research How Speech Patterns Lead to

Hiring Bias

Intersectionality Do Your Diversity Efforts Reflect the

Experiences of Women of Color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 33

Recommended reading (continued)

Sourcing Could This Be The Secret To Hiring More

Women And People Of Color

Sourcing Diversity Sourcing Strategy 3 LinkedIn

Search Tips from Boolean Master Glen

Cathey

Sourcing How to increase workplace diversity with

employee referrals

Unconscious bias Managing Unconscious Bias Strategies to

Manage Bias amp Build More Diverse Inclusive

Organizations

Unconscious bias 50 Ways to Fight Bias

Unconscious bias 12 Unconscious Bias Examples and How to

Avoid Them in the Workplace

Unconscious bias Harvard Project Implicit Association Tests

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 34

Greenhouse is the hiring software company

We help businesses be great at hiring through

our powerful hiring approach complete suite of

software and services and large partner ecosystem ndash

so businesses can hire for whatrsquos next

To learn more visit

greenhouseio

Page 13: eBook Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company

Step 4

Train your interviewers on taking notes that are rooted in evidence not inference

Finally yoursquoll need to hold interviewers accountable for capturing

detailed objective notes from every interview

Itrsquos important to note that without coaching interviewers probably

wonrsquot know how to do this You can help them by providing detailed

examples of what yoursquore looking for

Here are some sample scorecard notes

Rating Notes

Strong yes Lucia discussed her experience in her current role as Director of People where she is currently

responsible for recruitinghiring (8 roles to be filled within the next 2 months in their DC Ohio and

Atlanta markets) coordinating logistics (flights lodging meals programming) for an upcoming

national new hire orientation (15 attendees) and planning for the company-wide (150 ppl)

offsite retreat For hiring she mentioned how she schedules phone screens at various intervals

throughout the day and commits to taking notes on the call and scheduling next-round interviews

with hiring managers Structures days around certain ldquowork blocksrdquo where she knows what needs

to get done and will communicate if things are either taking longer than expected or if there are

roadblocks and collaborates as needed to find solutions Mentioned that she is a huge fan of

automation (Google Calendarrsquos DNS blocks) and keeps a scrolling list of to-do items Shared that

strong relationships with hiring managers made things a lot easier with schedulingprocess and

that the orientation went off without a hitch Team retreat was a multi-month effort and the team

enjoyed the experience more than the previous year both programmatically and logistically

Yes Joseacute shared about working as a Program Manager with a youth-development nonprofit and how

they were tapped to work on special projects from the Chief Program Officer on top of navigating

a complex situation with their school partner and how theyrsquove been ldquogetting their feet wetrdquo by

working with the development team on an upcoming funding proposal Their answers lacked

some detail (didnrsquot provide a backstory about the relationship with the school partner ldquothings

have always been tense but Irsquove been trying to remain positiverdquo) but were overall solid in how

theyrsquod tried to use time-tracking software to set alarms for when it was time to pivot and focus on

a different task They did mention that the team was short-staffed and that was why they decided

to step up and take on more responsibility even though they knew it would require additional work

on their end and being more organized Talked about how they have regular syncs with the CPO

to offer updates on their progress Also set up a weekly 2-hour block to work onedit the funding

proposal as theyrsquore interested in ldquodeveloping musclerdquo in fundraising

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 13

Mixed I gave Janet a ldquomixedrdquo here because I wasnrsquot convinced that her approach toward balancing

multiple projects was actually impactful or effective despite her laying out all the different steps

she took We talked about her experience as a second-year teacher (at a brand-new school)

juggling making parent calls grading lesson planning and her responsibilities as a self-appointed

sponsor for the schoolrsquos LGBTQ+ student association She talked about how she was able to use a

calendar and alerts in her phone but when probed admitted to having dropped a lot of balls with

grading student assignments since she was more focused on lesson planning and being present

for the student group Admitted that she could have done a much better job with balancing her

schedule and being more realistic with her bandwidth but also shared that she got feedback

from her Assistant Principal that she may need to scale back with the student group Again shersquos

capable of being proactive with taking on a lot but I donrsquot think I have enough evidence to say yes

or no on her ability to manage it all effectively and course correct as needed

No Morris shared an example of a time when as an Account Manager he had to navigate renewal

conversations with three different customers but spent the majority of the time discussing how

he wasnrsquot able to secure two of the renewals after focusing too heavily on one customer I probed

to learn more about his approachtechnique and he said that ldquoeverything was urgent so I didnrsquot

really have an opportunity to prioritize as much as I could haverdquo I probed more and learned that he

hadnrsquot responded to key emails from his customers and had assumed that since theyrsquod renewed

in the previous year that they would do so again Did admit to learning from the experience but Irsquom

not convinced that this example showcased his ability to do so with ease

Strong no Damon struggled to give a clear response but from what I could glean he has had a difficult

relationship with several hiring managers (HMs) in his most recent role as a full-cycle recruiter and

would often drop balls (forgetting to add notes double scheduling phone screens and not turning

around job posts quickly enough to match manager expectations) He mentioned one scenario

where he had challenges working with one HM and blamed them for the issue When I probed I

learned that Damon had neglected to ask about the candidatersquos salary requirements placing the

HM in a tough situation where they had to communicate that the candidatersquos expectations were

20 higher than the budgeted amount Damon attributed the breakdown as an ldquooversightrdquo and

shared that James (the HM) was ldquonot very likeable according to other recruiters that worked with

him beforerdquo and that he ldquoknew it would be an issuerdquo working with him on this new req

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 14

Sharing examples like these will help your team know what yoursquore

looking for Review interviewersrsquo feedback regularly Ask probing

questions about any comments that are vague or excessively

inferential Encourage them to anchor their decisions in the key

takeaways of your interview rubric

While the steps outlined above might be a pretty significant shift from

the way your team has been approaching interviewing making these

changes to your interview process can help mitigate bias and open the

door to qualified candidates from a broader range of backgrounds

Remember that you donrsquot have to do this all on your own ndash your

recruiters are your partners throughout this process Be sure to seek

their advice and input on attributes interview questions decision-

making criteria and any other area where you need a little extra

support

Pro tip

Encourage interviewers

to structure their

conversations with brief

intros (the longer the

intro the greater the

odds that an interviewer

will base their decision

on likability rather than

merit) Explain to your

team that they are

evaluating candidates

based on what they

can contribute not

popularity

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 15

Part 3 For recruiting teams

Recognizing and addressing biased behaviors in hiringAs a recruiter yoursquore responsible for the tools and processes that

shape hiring in your organization And when your company commits

to inclusive hiring a hefty portion of the responsibility will also fall on

your plate

Promoting inclusion often begins by looking at your hiring process

and putting systems in place to mitigate bias When you limit the role

bias plays in decision-making you can open the door to candidates

from traditionally underrepresented groups

In this section wersquoll offer a broad overview of how to recognize and

address bias in hiring

Recognizing biased behaviors in hiring

How can recruiters help their organizations mitigate bias in the hiring

process You can start by understanding when and where bias is likely

to pop up Wersquove summarized some of the research and collected a few

resources to help you begin your exploration of this topic

As you read through the points on the next page do any problematic

aspects of your existing process surface If so make a note to dive

deeper into those topics Wersquoll share some ideas in the next few

sections to give you a jumping-off point

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 16

bull Jargon and superficial language in job posts can

discourage women from applying and perpetuate inequality

bull Over-indexing on referrals from a homogenous workforce

(typically with less-diverse networks) can close the door for

people of color and women

bull Measuring talent through academic or employer history (both

have low predictive validity on job performance) limits access

for candidates excluded from those networks

bull People of color and women are more likely to receive offers if

another finalist shares their identity

bull Low-diversity interview teams may signal larger issues for

candidates from underrepresented groups

bull Resumes with more ldquowhite-soundingrdquo names are more likely to

be advanced in the hiring process

bull Candidates are often evaluated on their perceived ease in

assimilating or fitting into the culture rather than their capacity

to perform in the role and add to the companyrsquos culture

bull Traditional unstructured interviews are highly vulnerable to

bias ndash without consistent criteria or rubrics poorly trained

interviewers make impulse-driven decisions when evaluating

candidates

bull Interview notes are often scant high-inference or based on

likability rather than objective with examples that validate

advancement or rejection

bull Gender pay gaps persist in part because women fear reprisal for

initiating salary negotiation (from other women and men) and

compensation disparities are even wider for women of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 17

Addressing biased behaviors

Bias is a mental algorithm that can be disrupted through conscious

behavior change Effective and inclusive hiring isnrsquot so much a skill as

it is a collection of habits that can enable more inclusive outcomes and

change company cultures

Here are some practical steps you can take and tools to try out based

on the observations you noted earlier Wersquove divided these tips by

pipeline stage (sourcing screening selecting and hiring)

Sourcing

bull Clarify the attributes yoursquore looking for (capabilities performance

objectives etc) during your kickoff meeting using a structured

hiring template

bull Consider partnering with text-augmenting software like Textio

TapRecruit or Gender Decoder to expose and change the words

that may disrupt diversity at the top of your funnel

bull Solicit referrals for underrepresented talent (with added financial

incentive if possible) as an important DEampI initiative that can

also lead to greater retention and lower reports of workplace

inequity

bull The recruiting platform Gem recommends using diversity salient

strategies like targeting talent from bootcamps or affinity-based

organizations like TransTech Social and the National Society of

Black Engineers

bull Audit your job posts to determine which requirements are

essential and which are extraneous remove jargon and focus on

producing (and disseminating) content that appeals to the widest

net possible

bull Use Boolean searches in LinkedIn to find overlooked talent

by searching for alumni of colleges with high diversity indices

or affinity-based organizations like fraternities sororities and

cultural interest groups

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 18

A simple structured hiring template

Want to add more structure

to your hiring process

Here are a few questions

and points to consider next

time you open a new role

Who are you trying to hire

bull Role name

bull Department

bull Who will this person report to

bull What business objectives are you trying to meet with this role

How will you evaluate the candidate

bull Skills

bull Personality traits

bull Qualifications

What will the interview process look like

bull Define the interview stages (application review phone screen

hiring manager interview etc)

bull Decide which qualities will be assessed in each stage

bull Plan out the questions or assessments for each quality

Screening

bull Based on your structured hiring template design an effective

scorecard and create clear evaluation criteria that your

interviewers can discuss in their roundups to make informed

objective decisions when assessing candidates (see page 21 for

a quick introduction to scorecards)

bull Ensure your focus attributes are specific measurable attainable

and relevant to the role(s) yoursquore recruiting for

bull Consider integrating your companyrsquos performance management

competencies (if possible) when determining focus attributes if

you have difficulty developing new ones

bull Using the performance outcomes for the role develop a bank

of behavioral and situational interview questions that match the

complexity of the role

bull Define the range of answers for your questions from exemplary

to unacceptable and train your interviewers on how to document

their feedback in the scorecard

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 19

bull Mitigate opportunities for late-stage interviewers to be

influencedbiased by previously submitted scorecards

bull Train members of employee resource groups (ERGs) to

participate as interviewers to ensure a balance of perspectives

bull Evaluate whether leveraging skills-based hiring makes sense for

your company

bull Work samples or assessments have the highest predictive

validity for job performance and grading them anonymously can

help mitigate bias

Selecting

bull Assessments like Predictive Index can help you identify

candidates who can balance out your team

bull Establish clear consistent candidate evaluation criteria for your

interviewers to adhere to as a part of a structured hiring process

bull Train your interviewers with proper interview prep material use

focus attributes to eliminate redundancy and require detailed

low-inference and objective interview notes for every attribute

assessed

bull Review all interview feedback ask probing questions about

vague or inferential comments and encourage interviewers to

anchor their decisions in the key takeaways of your interview

rubric

Hiring

bull Audit your compensation structure to ensure that salaries are at

market rate and determine your thresholds for salary negotiation

regardless of the candidate

bull Be transparent about your compensation philosophy and

consider not allowing anyone to negotiate compensation to

drive pay equity

bull Review comments from candidate surveys to measure candidate

experience and leverage the data to make iterations where

necessary throughout your process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 20

Creating attributes

Aim for at least 3ndash6 mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive

focus attributes per category for your scorecards Consider integrating

the SMART (Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-based)

framework to ensure your interviewers are enabled to measure what

matters

Building interview questions

Collaborate with hiring managers to design custom interview questions

for each attribute deemed necessary for success in the role Aligning

these questions to your scorecard focus attributes enables your

interviewers to make informed decisions that can more accurately

predict job performance

Establishing a decision-making framework

After developing your focus attributes and interview questions be sure

to define evaluation expectations for interview teams Ideally each

attribute-aligned question will include a specific rubric that outlines what

interviewers should look for in candidate answers and assessments

You can adapt this scorecard rating system to suit your company

Scorecard essentials for everyone

Scorecards are

fundamental to structured

hiring Consistent

candidate evaluation helps

mitigate interviewer bias

reduce total interview time

and drive a more evidence-

based decision framework

for selecting the right

talent

Herersquos a high-level

overview of scorecard

essentials

Strong yes is an exemplary response that clearly addresses each

element of the question with distinct examples (if appropriate)

Yes is a solid acceptable response that addresses most or all elements

of the question with clear examples

Mixed is an inconclusive response that may partially address the

question but does not provide the interviewer with evidence about the

candidatersquos capabilities A mixed rating does not equate to ldquoI donrsquot

knowrdquo ndash when an interviewer doesnrsquot have enough evidence they

should leave the attribute blank

No is an unacceptable response that ignores most or multiple

elements of the question

Strong no is an extremely unacceptable answer that doesnrsquot address

the question at all andor contains a comment that conflicts with your

companyrsquos culture Beyond that answers may blatantly disparage

others former employers communities etc

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 21

Part 4 For business leaders

Prioritizing DEampIForward-thinking business leaders (like you) are actively focused on

elevating their DEampI practices ndash not only to ensure that their teams

accurately reflect the demographics of their local population but also

to create a work environment that offers equitable opportunities where

people of all identities can thrive

Traditionally business leaders have looked to recruiting teams to

shoulder the work of diversifying the candidates moving through their

hiring pipelines However great business leaders understand that DEampI

is a company-wide commitment starting from the top ndash at Greenhouse

we call this the Talent Maker mindset

In a world where 57 of employees believe their companies should

improve diversity among their internal workforce and 86 of job

seekers actively seek out companies with diverse employee bases

proactively building inclusive hiring practices to allow for a better

diversity of hires isnrsquot just the right thing to do ndash itrsquos the smart thing

to do

McKinsey found that companies in the top quartile for racialethnic and

gender diversity were respectively 35 and 15 more likely to have

financial returns above the national median for their particular industry

That means being great at hiring today is about a lot more than how

quickly you make a hire Itrsquos also about exercising inclusive hiring

practices and having diversity on both sides of the interview process

among your interviewers and your candidates Itrsquos about business

leaders getting involved with DEampI to generate meaningful outcomes

No matter how valiantly a recruiter works to fill the top of a recruiting

funnel with underrepresented candidates if hiring managers donrsquot

similarly prioritize inclusive hiring those candidates will inevitably

leave the funnel ndash whether by choice or through the adverse impact of

unconscious bias

Letrsquos explore some of the ways that Talent Makers can boost DEampI in

their hiring strategies

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 22

Before focusing externally look internally at your own company

Diversifying your team isnrsquot only about bringing in a new hire who can

add a new perspective Itrsquos just as much about creating an environment

that allows that new hire to share their perspective and feel heard

Some leaders may skirt conversations around identity ndash by claiming to

be ldquocolorblindrdquo when it comes to race for example ndash but great leaders

lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each

employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

Ask questions

What does all this mean through the lens of hiring As you start

thinking about how to source underrepresented candidates answer

these questions

bull Why would a candidate from an underrepresented group want to

join your team

bull How would you articulate your commitment to supporting and

advocating for them as a manager

bull If you were releasing a public statement or articulating your

companyrsquos commitment to equity in response toin solidarity

with a societal movement how would you differentiate your

company from other organizations in a way thatrsquos authentic

bull More importantly how will you hold yourself accountable over

time for driving the changes you want to see

Next take a hard look at the demographics of your team Determine

the following

bull Which demographic groups ndash including but not limited to

gender raceethnicity sexual orientation industry experience

seniority education socioeconomic status and ability status ndash

are represented

bull Which groups are you lacking or are underrepresented

bull Look for patterns in the profiles of the people yoursquove hired up to

now ndash do they imply an inclination toward a certain personality

type background set of qualifications or even raceethnicity

bull If so how are you justifying that

Great leaders lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 23

bull Could you inadvertently be screening for privilege (think

preferred schools or degrees) rather than for ability and

potential

Have the conversation

Itrsquos time to invite your team into the conversation This can be the

uncomfortable part especially if yoursquore in an environment that

doesnrsquot have a precedent for such dialogues Actively sharing why

yoursquore prioritizing DEampI will signal its importance to your team help

address any discrepancies and start building the muscle for healthy

conversations on topics like race Yoursquoll also drive new awareness

and behaviors that can have outsized impacts on who you hire by

influencing your interview panels to be more open-minded and provide

better interviewing experiences to underrepresented candidates

Finally collaborate with your people operations or HR team to review

current department demographics based on self-reported employee

data This will lead to informed discussions about which groups to

focus on when diversifying hiring pipelines which ties back to your

goals around having better representation among your employees

Write your job descriptionsjob posts through an inclusive lens

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader

is a job description for a role on your team Itrsquos the first touchpoint

candidates have with your team and it directly impacts who does ndash

and doesnrsquot ndash engage in your interview process

Here are tips on how to make your job descriptions more inclusive ndash

and more attractive to the candidates yoursquore targeting

Identify and rework inherently biased language

Countless job descriptions contain language that is gendered which

can skew your talent pool before you even interact with candidates

Platforms like Textio leverage artificial intelligence to help remove

gender bias business jargon and other phrases that reinforce

stereotypes in written content

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader is a job description for a role on your team

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 24

Describe goals and growth opportunities

Focus on describing the exciting goals and clear objectives of the

job rather than listing day-to-day responsibilities that arenrsquot tied to

outcomes This will not only inspire candidates it will also help them

decide if what theyrsquoll own and learn in your job is aligned with their

career goals

Examples of unintentionally biased language

Masculine-tone

Exhaustive

Enforcement

Fearless

Feminine-tone

Transparent

Catalyst

In touch with

Textio writes ldquoA language pattern is considered gendered if it

statistically changes the proportion of men and women who respond

to a job post containing itrdquo Their research reveals that in jobs where

a man is hired the original job post averages almost twice as many

masculine-tone phrases as feminine In jobs where a woman is hired

Textio finds the exact opposite there are twice as many feminine-tone

phrases as masculine in the job post Here are a few common phrases

that exert this type of bias effect

bull What are the goals and outcomes you want this person to achieve

bull What are the success metrics being tracked and the desired outcomes

bull What does growth look like on your team when someone delivers

quarter over quarter

bull Who will this person be actively collaborating with

Questions to answer in your job description

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 25

Focus on skills over requirements

Carefully consider each requirement yoursquore adding to your job

description Can you shift your focus away from a specific number

of years of work experience or required degrees and move toward

a candidatersquos abilities Could you take it a step further and include

verbiage that encourages candidates to apply even if they might not

have all the necessary qualifications

Get other opinions

Continue to iterate and socialize your job description Share it with

someone whorsquos currently in the role or someone who represents an

underrepresented demographic group to learn if there are better ways to

position the content Incorporating feedback from different perspectives

is key to eliminating unintentional biases in the language

Use structured hiring to mitigate unconscious bias

Now that yoursquove communicated your focus on diversity and published

an inclusive job description you might think most of your work is

behind you After all isnrsquot the process mostly in your recruiterrsquos hands

from here Not just yet Once you have candidates entering your hiring

pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices

will really be put to the test

Consider adding an inclusivity statement

Is your job description unintentionally scaring candidates away

Research shows that women tend to only apply for jobs when they meet

100 of the requirements One way to encourage candidates from

diverse backgrounds to apply is by adding an inclusivity statement to

your list of qualifications Jobs are filled 6 faster when the description

includes an inclusion message or EEO statement Herersquos the Greenhouse

version (itrsquos the last item in the list of qualifications) ldquoYour own unique

talents If you donrsquot meet 100 of the qualifications outlined above tell

us why yoursquod be a great fit for this role in your cover letterrdquo

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 26

Here are a few important things to keep in mind to stay accountable to

your commitment to DEampI

Screen in over screening out

When reviewing resumes use the framework of screening in rather

than screening out While certain jobs will have hard requirements ndash an

engineer might need fluency in a certain coding language to perform in

their job ndash many employers are placing less emphasis on a strict set of

resume qualifications when determining who to move to the next stage

and thinking about how they can invest in training people who have

potential but donrsquot have specific qualifications

When conducting interviews many hiring managers get

understandably nervous when considering candidates from

backgrounds that are not currently represented on their team That

behavior is often grounded in similar-to-me bias and perpetuates

homogeneity Pay close attention to how you and your interviewers

react to historically underrepresented candidates and actively exercise

open-mindedness Your best hire may be the person who is different

from everyone else your team has hired in the past

Use the same criteria

To create an even playing field assess all candidates against the same

hiring criteria that yoursquove determined is necessary for the role which

is the core of structured hiring Similarly make sure each candidate is

answering the same interview questions from your interviewers This

allows your interviewers not only to focus on relevant areas to assess

but also to compare candidates in a data-driven and fair way in the

event yoursquore choosing between several finalists

Diversify your panel

Finally consider your interview panel Which demographic groups are

represented and which are not represented Do you have a panel of all

men Of all the same ethnicity or race Of all millennials If the answer

is yes to any of these scenarios how are you planning to address this

elephant in the room with candidates who identify differently Put

yourself in their shoes and be prepared to clearly explain why creating

a more diverse team is a priority for you

Once you have candidates entering your hiring pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices will really be put to the test

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 27

Measure wins by progress and improvements

If you donrsquot already have an extensive DEampI program at your

organization figuring out where to start can be challenging Who we

are informs everything we do ndash who we hire what we observe where

we live how we communicate ndash and it can be tough to know where to

focus when checking our own potential biases However starting with a

deep reflection of your hiring process is a way to take ownership of your

responsibility as a business leader to prioritize DEampI Your commitment

may not produce immediate results since company demographics

arenrsquot something that can change overnight but your efforts will drive

meaningful and positive change in the long run with respect to who you

hire and advocate for in your company

Own your influence As a leader you have the ability to influence others through your words

and actions Consider the ways you can demonstrate your commitment

to DEampI Here are some ideas to get you started

bull Sponsor an employee resource group and commit to helping

them achieve their goals

bull Attend diversity sourcing events and invite coworkers to join you

bull Refer candidates from overlookedunderrepresented groups to

open roles throughout your organization

bull Look for local organizations you can partner with ndash perhaps

you can sponsor a hackathon offer an internship or otherwise

support their mission

bull Ask for feedback and suggestions ndash your team might already

have some great ideas about how to prioritize DEampI

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 28

Part 5 For everyone

Creating an inclusive candidate experience to build stronger more diverse teamsEvery person in your company ndash regardless of their job title ndash can

contribute to inclusive hiring Whether theyrsquore making referrals

interviewing candidates or talking to prospects their actions can

have an impact on candidate experience Thatrsquos why itrsquos essential

to be intentional about the role everyone plays

Here are a few ways to create an inclusive candidate experience

Structured hiring

Structured hiring is an approach where selection decisions are

based on evidence not emotion Leaders align the role to a business

objective and build a rigorous and objective interview process

through conversations assignments and the like that can be used to

predict job performance Candidates are asked consistent questions

that connect back to specific attributes required for the role and

interviewers evaluate responses against a defined rating system in

the interview scorecard

In previous sections we covered how hiring managers and recruiters

can partner to implement structured hiring Remember that rolling

it out to your entire company will take time and effort Everyone

involved in the interview process will need to be trained on things

like how to conduct interviews take notes and score candidates

Consider integrating this training into new hire onboarding team

offsites or manager professional development to ensure everyone

stays up to date

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 29

Defining and hiring for culture add

Over the past several years wersquove seen companies move away

from assessing candidates on their ldquoculture fitrdquo because this term

can lead to homogeneous hiring But many companies still want

a way to determine whether candidates are aligned with their values

This is where ldquoculture addrdquo or values interviews can come into play

Culture-add interviews also give candidates the chance to meet

people from other teams and departments to get a broader sense of

your company culture

If culture-add interviews are part of your hiring process (or you want

them to be) yoursquoll want to consider the following

bull Who conducts culture-add interviews What is the selection

process like for identifying these interviewers within your

company and training them

bull Which questions does the culture-add interview cover How do

you define great acceptable and unacceptable answers

bull How often will you revisit and update this process

Hiring Maturity success story Neil Casey ThoughtWorks

In this limited podcast

series Greenhouse

President and Co-

founder Jon Stross sat

down with talent leaders

from leading companies

to discuss their Hiring

Maturity journeys Listen

in as Jon invites Neil

Casey Global Head of

Sourcing and Strategic

Hiring at ThoughtWorks

to discuss building an

inclusive hiring process

at scale

Explore the Greenhouse DEampI feature set

Take structured interviewing to the next level with solutions that enable

recruiters interviewers and hiring managers to operationalize and

scale fairer hiring practices Herersquos a brief overview of the Greenhouse

DEampI feature set

Data collection and reporting ndash Track self-reported applicant

demographic data throughout the hiring funnel (from sourcing

to offer) and measure pass-throughdrop-off rates

In-the-moment interventions ndash Reminders that nudge users to

slow down and avoid instinctive mental shortcuts that arenrsquot

rooted in evidence or tied to job-relevant criteria

Structured decision-making ndash Added guardrails that support

a more objective selection process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 30

Encouraging an inclusive approach to employee referrals

Employee referrals are a great way to get everyone involved in the

hiring process Itrsquos exciting to have a hand in shaping the future of your

company while helping someone in your network land their next role

But certain groups tend to benefit from referrals more than others

which can lead to more homogeneity

The good news is that referrals donrsquot automatically lead to

homogeneous hires according to research by DEampI consultancy

Paradigm They partnered with Pinterest to determine why employee

referrals tend to be homogenous Is it because peoplersquos networks

are truly that homogenous or is it due to pattern-matching bias

(employees are looking around at their coworkers and only thinking

of people who are similar to the existing team) Paradigm found that

when a leader asked employees to be more mindful about diversity

when offering referrals especially people of color and women it made

a tangible impact over the following six weeks So be sure to encourage

employees to consider diversity when making referrals

DonorsChoose takes a data-driven approach to DEampI in their hiring

DonorsChoosersquos challenge Develop a hiring process that aligns with

the organizationrsquos commitment to DEampI in their work in education

DonorsChoose has a high standard for their DEampI hiring efforts and

wanted to intentionally drive a more diverse candidate pool To do so

they had to prioritize gathering better data on diversity in their hiring

pools Without that data conversations between the People and Talent

team and hiring managers felt uninformed and ineffective

DonorsChoose wanted data at their fingertips to drive their DEampI

hiring efforts The Greenhouse DEampI feature set offered them a robust

set of tools Since turning on custom demographic reporting the

DonorsChoose team has seen an improvement and recognized that

now 58 of the candidates who have made it to the face-to-face

interview stage at DonorsChoose have identified as people of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 31

ConclusionWe recommend sitting with these strategies for a few days rather than

immediately jumping into action Take time to reflect on your next

steps and collaborate with your internal partners in order to create the

optimal DEampI hiring strategy for your company

Remember that when it comes to DEampI therersquos no ldquoend staterdquo to arrive

at Wersquore all on the same journey of curiosity listening progress and

discovery

If yoursquod like to do further reading or research on any of the topics we

covered wersquove curated a list of recommended reading for you

We are your partners and allies and stand beside you in this work and

will help you as best we can All of us at Greenhouse are committed to

bringing about lasting change and we will be your partner in creating

a more equitable hiring process so you can build more inclusive

stronger teams

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 32

Recommended reading

DEampI strategy Creating an Effective Diversity and Inclusion

Program

DEampI strategy Hiring Diverse Candidates is Not Enough ndash

Itrsquos About Keeping Them

DEampI strategy Toward a Racially Just Workplace

DEampI strategy Why So Many Organizations Stay White

DEampI strategy Do Your DampI Efforts Include People with

Disabilities

Hiring If Therersquos Only One Woman in Your Candidate

Pool Therersquos Statisically No Chance Shersquoll Be

Hired

Hiring A Data-Driven Approach to Hiring More

Diverse Talent

Hiring How to Alter Your Hiring Practices to Increase

Diversity

Hiring Research How Speech Patterns Lead to

Hiring Bias

Intersectionality Do Your Diversity Efforts Reflect the

Experiences of Women of Color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 33

Recommended reading (continued)

Sourcing Could This Be The Secret To Hiring More

Women And People Of Color

Sourcing Diversity Sourcing Strategy 3 LinkedIn

Search Tips from Boolean Master Glen

Cathey

Sourcing How to increase workplace diversity with

employee referrals

Unconscious bias Managing Unconscious Bias Strategies to

Manage Bias amp Build More Diverse Inclusive

Organizations

Unconscious bias 50 Ways to Fight Bias

Unconscious bias 12 Unconscious Bias Examples and How to

Avoid Them in the Workplace

Unconscious bias Harvard Project Implicit Association Tests

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 34

Greenhouse is the hiring software company

We help businesses be great at hiring through

our powerful hiring approach complete suite of

software and services and large partner ecosystem ndash

so businesses can hire for whatrsquos next

To learn more visit

greenhouseio

Page 14: eBook Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company

Mixed I gave Janet a ldquomixedrdquo here because I wasnrsquot convinced that her approach toward balancing

multiple projects was actually impactful or effective despite her laying out all the different steps

she took We talked about her experience as a second-year teacher (at a brand-new school)

juggling making parent calls grading lesson planning and her responsibilities as a self-appointed

sponsor for the schoolrsquos LGBTQ+ student association She talked about how she was able to use a

calendar and alerts in her phone but when probed admitted to having dropped a lot of balls with

grading student assignments since she was more focused on lesson planning and being present

for the student group Admitted that she could have done a much better job with balancing her

schedule and being more realistic with her bandwidth but also shared that she got feedback

from her Assistant Principal that she may need to scale back with the student group Again shersquos

capable of being proactive with taking on a lot but I donrsquot think I have enough evidence to say yes

or no on her ability to manage it all effectively and course correct as needed

No Morris shared an example of a time when as an Account Manager he had to navigate renewal

conversations with three different customers but spent the majority of the time discussing how

he wasnrsquot able to secure two of the renewals after focusing too heavily on one customer I probed

to learn more about his approachtechnique and he said that ldquoeverything was urgent so I didnrsquot

really have an opportunity to prioritize as much as I could haverdquo I probed more and learned that he

hadnrsquot responded to key emails from his customers and had assumed that since theyrsquod renewed

in the previous year that they would do so again Did admit to learning from the experience but Irsquom

not convinced that this example showcased his ability to do so with ease

Strong no Damon struggled to give a clear response but from what I could glean he has had a difficult

relationship with several hiring managers (HMs) in his most recent role as a full-cycle recruiter and

would often drop balls (forgetting to add notes double scheduling phone screens and not turning

around job posts quickly enough to match manager expectations) He mentioned one scenario

where he had challenges working with one HM and blamed them for the issue When I probed I

learned that Damon had neglected to ask about the candidatersquos salary requirements placing the

HM in a tough situation where they had to communicate that the candidatersquos expectations were

20 higher than the budgeted amount Damon attributed the breakdown as an ldquooversightrdquo and

shared that James (the HM) was ldquonot very likeable according to other recruiters that worked with

him beforerdquo and that he ldquoknew it would be an issuerdquo working with him on this new req

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 14

Sharing examples like these will help your team know what yoursquore

looking for Review interviewersrsquo feedback regularly Ask probing

questions about any comments that are vague or excessively

inferential Encourage them to anchor their decisions in the key

takeaways of your interview rubric

While the steps outlined above might be a pretty significant shift from

the way your team has been approaching interviewing making these

changes to your interview process can help mitigate bias and open the

door to qualified candidates from a broader range of backgrounds

Remember that you donrsquot have to do this all on your own ndash your

recruiters are your partners throughout this process Be sure to seek

their advice and input on attributes interview questions decision-

making criteria and any other area where you need a little extra

support

Pro tip

Encourage interviewers

to structure their

conversations with brief

intros (the longer the

intro the greater the

odds that an interviewer

will base their decision

on likability rather than

merit) Explain to your

team that they are

evaluating candidates

based on what they

can contribute not

popularity

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 15

Part 3 For recruiting teams

Recognizing and addressing biased behaviors in hiringAs a recruiter yoursquore responsible for the tools and processes that

shape hiring in your organization And when your company commits

to inclusive hiring a hefty portion of the responsibility will also fall on

your plate

Promoting inclusion often begins by looking at your hiring process

and putting systems in place to mitigate bias When you limit the role

bias plays in decision-making you can open the door to candidates

from traditionally underrepresented groups

In this section wersquoll offer a broad overview of how to recognize and

address bias in hiring

Recognizing biased behaviors in hiring

How can recruiters help their organizations mitigate bias in the hiring

process You can start by understanding when and where bias is likely

to pop up Wersquove summarized some of the research and collected a few

resources to help you begin your exploration of this topic

As you read through the points on the next page do any problematic

aspects of your existing process surface If so make a note to dive

deeper into those topics Wersquoll share some ideas in the next few

sections to give you a jumping-off point

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 16

bull Jargon and superficial language in job posts can

discourage women from applying and perpetuate inequality

bull Over-indexing on referrals from a homogenous workforce

(typically with less-diverse networks) can close the door for

people of color and women

bull Measuring talent through academic or employer history (both

have low predictive validity on job performance) limits access

for candidates excluded from those networks

bull People of color and women are more likely to receive offers if

another finalist shares their identity

bull Low-diversity interview teams may signal larger issues for

candidates from underrepresented groups

bull Resumes with more ldquowhite-soundingrdquo names are more likely to

be advanced in the hiring process

bull Candidates are often evaluated on their perceived ease in

assimilating or fitting into the culture rather than their capacity

to perform in the role and add to the companyrsquos culture

bull Traditional unstructured interviews are highly vulnerable to

bias ndash without consistent criteria or rubrics poorly trained

interviewers make impulse-driven decisions when evaluating

candidates

bull Interview notes are often scant high-inference or based on

likability rather than objective with examples that validate

advancement or rejection

bull Gender pay gaps persist in part because women fear reprisal for

initiating salary negotiation (from other women and men) and

compensation disparities are even wider for women of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 17

Addressing biased behaviors

Bias is a mental algorithm that can be disrupted through conscious

behavior change Effective and inclusive hiring isnrsquot so much a skill as

it is a collection of habits that can enable more inclusive outcomes and

change company cultures

Here are some practical steps you can take and tools to try out based

on the observations you noted earlier Wersquove divided these tips by

pipeline stage (sourcing screening selecting and hiring)

Sourcing

bull Clarify the attributes yoursquore looking for (capabilities performance

objectives etc) during your kickoff meeting using a structured

hiring template

bull Consider partnering with text-augmenting software like Textio

TapRecruit or Gender Decoder to expose and change the words

that may disrupt diversity at the top of your funnel

bull Solicit referrals for underrepresented talent (with added financial

incentive if possible) as an important DEampI initiative that can

also lead to greater retention and lower reports of workplace

inequity

bull The recruiting platform Gem recommends using diversity salient

strategies like targeting talent from bootcamps or affinity-based

organizations like TransTech Social and the National Society of

Black Engineers

bull Audit your job posts to determine which requirements are

essential and which are extraneous remove jargon and focus on

producing (and disseminating) content that appeals to the widest

net possible

bull Use Boolean searches in LinkedIn to find overlooked talent

by searching for alumni of colleges with high diversity indices

or affinity-based organizations like fraternities sororities and

cultural interest groups

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 18

A simple structured hiring template

Want to add more structure

to your hiring process

Here are a few questions

and points to consider next

time you open a new role

Who are you trying to hire

bull Role name

bull Department

bull Who will this person report to

bull What business objectives are you trying to meet with this role

How will you evaluate the candidate

bull Skills

bull Personality traits

bull Qualifications

What will the interview process look like

bull Define the interview stages (application review phone screen

hiring manager interview etc)

bull Decide which qualities will be assessed in each stage

bull Plan out the questions or assessments for each quality

Screening

bull Based on your structured hiring template design an effective

scorecard and create clear evaluation criteria that your

interviewers can discuss in their roundups to make informed

objective decisions when assessing candidates (see page 21 for

a quick introduction to scorecards)

bull Ensure your focus attributes are specific measurable attainable

and relevant to the role(s) yoursquore recruiting for

bull Consider integrating your companyrsquos performance management

competencies (if possible) when determining focus attributes if

you have difficulty developing new ones

bull Using the performance outcomes for the role develop a bank

of behavioral and situational interview questions that match the

complexity of the role

bull Define the range of answers for your questions from exemplary

to unacceptable and train your interviewers on how to document

their feedback in the scorecard

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 19

bull Mitigate opportunities for late-stage interviewers to be

influencedbiased by previously submitted scorecards

bull Train members of employee resource groups (ERGs) to

participate as interviewers to ensure a balance of perspectives

bull Evaluate whether leveraging skills-based hiring makes sense for

your company

bull Work samples or assessments have the highest predictive

validity for job performance and grading them anonymously can

help mitigate bias

Selecting

bull Assessments like Predictive Index can help you identify

candidates who can balance out your team

bull Establish clear consistent candidate evaluation criteria for your

interviewers to adhere to as a part of a structured hiring process

bull Train your interviewers with proper interview prep material use

focus attributes to eliminate redundancy and require detailed

low-inference and objective interview notes for every attribute

assessed

bull Review all interview feedback ask probing questions about

vague or inferential comments and encourage interviewers to

anchor their decisions in the key takeaways of your interview

rubric

Hiring

bull Audit your compensation structure to ensure that salaries are at

market rate and determine your thresholds for salary negotiation

regardless of the candidate

bull Be transparent about your compensation philosophy and

consider not allowing anyone to negotiate compensation to

drive pay equity

bull Review comments from candidate surveys to measure candidate

experience and leverage the data to make iterations where

necessary throughout your process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 20

Creating attributes

Aim for at least 3ndash6 mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive

focus attributes per category for your scorecards Consider integrating

the SMART (Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-based)

framework to ensure your interviewers are enabled to measure what

matters

Building interview questions

Collaborate with hiring managers to design custom interview questions

for each attribute deemed necessary for success in the role Aligning

these questions to your scorecard focus attributes enables your

interviewers to make informed decisions that can more accurately

predict job performance

Establishing a decision-making framework

After developing your focus attributes and interview questions be sure

to define evaluation expectations for interview teams Ideally each

attribute-aligned question will include a specific rubric that outlines what

interviewers should look for in candidate answers and assessments

You can adapt this scorecard rating system to suit your company

Scorecard essentials for everyone

Scorecards are

fundamental to structured

hiring Consistent

candidate evaluation helps

mitigate interviewer bias

reduce total interview time

and drive a more evidence-

based decision framework

for selecting the right

talent

Herersquos a high-level

overview of scorecard

essentials

Strong yes is an exemplary response that clearly addresses each

element of the question with distinct examples (if appropriate)

Yes is a solid acceptable response that addresses most or all elements

of the question with clear examples

Mixed is an inconclusive response that may partially address the

question but does not provide the interviewer with evidence about the

candidatersquos capabilities A mixed rating does not equate to ldquoI donrsquot

knowrdquo ndash when an interviewer doesnrsquot have enough evidence they

should leave the attribute blank

No is an unacceptable response that ignores most or multiple

elements of the question

Strong no is an extremely unacceptable answer that doesnrsquot address

the question at all andor contains a comment that conflicts with your

companyrsquos culture Beyond that answers may blatantly disparage

others former employers communities etc

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 21

Part 4 For business leaders

Prioritizing DEampIForward-thinking business leaders (like you) are actively focused on

elevating their DEampI practices ndash not only to ensure that their teams

accurately reflect the demographics of their local population but also

to create a work environment that offers equitable opportunities where

people of all identities can thrive

Traditionally business leaders have looked to recruiting teams to

shoulder the work of diversifying the candidates moving through their

hiring pipelines However great business leaders understand that DEampI

is a company-wide commitment starting from the top ndash at Greenhouse

we call this the Talent Maker mindset

In a world where 57 of employees believe their companies should

improve diversity among their internal workforce and 86 of job

seekers actively seek out companies with diverse employee bases

proactively building inclusive hiring practices to allow for a better

diversity of hires isnrsquot just the right thing to do ndash itrsquos the smart thing

to do

McKinsey found that companies in the top quartile for racialethnic and

gender diversity were respectively 35 and 15 more likely to have

financial returns above the national median for their particular industry

That means being great at hiring today is about a lot more than how

quickly you make a hire Itrsquos also about exercising inclusive hiring

practices and having diversity on both sides of the interview process

among your interviewers and your candidates Itrsquos about business

leaders getting involved with DEampI to generate meaningful outcomes

No matter how valiantly a recruiter works to fill the top of a recruiting

funnel with underrepresented candidates if hiring managers donrsquot

similarly prioritize inclusive hiring those candidates will inevitably

leave the funnel ndash whether by choice or through the adverse impact of

unconscious bias

Letrsquos explore some of the ways that Talent Makers can boost DEampI in

their hiring strategies

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 22

Before focusing externally look internally at your own company

Diversifying your team isnrsquot only about bringing in a new hire who can

add a new perspective Itrsquos just as much about creating an environment

that allows that new hire to share their perspective and feel heard

Some leaders may skirt conversations around identity ndash by claiming to

be ldquocolorblindrdquo when it comes to race for example ndash but great leaders

lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each

employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

Ask questions

What does all this mean through the lens of hiring As you start

thinking about how to source underrepresented candidates answer

these questions

bull Why would a candidate from an underrepresented group want to

join your team

bull How would you articulate your commitment to supporting and

advocating for them as a manager

bull If you were releasing a public statement or articulating your

companyrsquos commitment to equity in response toin solidarity

with a societal movement how would you differentiate your

company from other organizations in a way thatrsquos authentic

bull More importantly how will you hold yourself accountable over

time for driving the changes you want to see

Next take a hard look at the demographics of your team Determine

the following

bull Which demographic groups ndash including but not limited to

gender raceethnicity sexual orientation industry experience

seniority education socioeconomic status and ability status ndash

are represented

bull Which groups are you lacking or are underrepresented

bull Look for patterns in the profiles of the people yoursquove hired up to

now ndash do they imply an inclination toward a certain personality

type background set of qualifications or even raceethnicity

bull If so how are you justifying that

Great leaders lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 23

bull Could you inadvertently be screening for privilege (think

preferred schools or degrees) rather than for ability and

potential

Have the conversation

Itrsquos time to invite your team into the conversation This can be the

uncomfortable part especially if yoursquore in an environment that

doesnrsquot have a precedent for such dialogues Actively sharing why

yoursquore prioritizing DEampI will signal its importance to your team help

address any discrepancies and start building the muscle for healthy

conversations on topics like race Yoursquoll also drive new awareness

and behaviors that can have outsized impacts on who you hire by

influencing your interview panels to be more open-minded and provide

better interviewing experiences to underrepresented candidates

Finally collaborate with your people operations or HR team to review

current department demographics based on self-reported employee

data This will lead to informed discussions about which groups to

focus on when diversifying hiring pipelines which ties back to your

goals around having better representation among your employees

Write your job descriptionsjob posts through an inclusive lens

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader

is a job description for a role on your team Itrsquos the first touchpoint

candidates have with your team and it directly impacts who does ndash

and doesnrsquot ndash engage in your interview process

Here are tips on how to make your job descriptions more inclusive ndash

and more attractive to the candidates yoursquore targeting

Identify and rework inherently biased language

Countless job descriptions contain language that is gendered which

can skew your talent pool before you even interact with candidates

Platforms like Textio leverage artificial intelligence to help remove

gender bias business jargon and other phrases that reinforce

stereotypes in written content

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader is a job description for a role on your team

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 24

Describe goals and growth opportunities

Focus on describing the exciting goals and clear objectives of the

job rather than listing day-to-day responsibilities that arenrsquot tied to

outcomes This will not only inspire candidates it will also help them

decide if what theyrsquoll own and learn in your job is aligned with their

career goals

Examples of unintentionally biased language

Masculine-tone

Exhaustive

Enforcement

Fearless

Feminine-tone

Transparent

Catalyst

In touch with

Textio writes ldquoA language pattern is considered gendered if it

statistically changes the proportion of men and women who respond

to a job post containing itrdquo Their research reveals that in jobs where

a man is hired the original job post averages almost twice as many

masculine-tone phrases as feminine In jobs where a woman is hired

Textio finds the exact opposite there are twice as many feminine-tone

phrases as masculine in the job post Here are a few common phrases

that exert this type of bias effect

bull What are the goals and outcomes you want this person to achieve

bull What are the success metrics being tracked and the desired outcomes

bull What does growth look like on your team when someone delivers

quarter over quarter

bull Who will this person be actively collaborating with

Questions to answer in your job description

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 25

Focus on skills over requirements

Carefully consider each requirement yoursquore adding to your job

description Can you shift your focus away from a specific number

of years of work experience or required degrees and move toward

a candidatersquos abilities Could you take it a step further and include

verbiage that encourages candidates to apply even if they might not

have all the necessary qualifications

Get other opinions

Continue to iterate and socialize your job description Share it with

someone whorsquos currently in the role or someone who represents an

underrepresented demographic group to learn if there are better ways to

position the content Incorporating feedback from different perspectives

is key to eliminating unintentional biases in the language

Use structured hiring to mitigate unconscious bias

Now that yoursquove communicated your focus on diversity and published

an inclusive job description you might think most of your work is

behind you After all isnrsquot the process mostly in your recruiterrsquos hands

from here Not just yet Once you have candidates entering your hiring

pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices

will really be put to the test

Consider adding an inclusivity statement

Is your job description unintentionally scaring candidates away

Research shows that women tend to only apply for jobs when they meet

100 of the requirements One way to encourage candidates from

diverse backgrounds to apply is by adding an inclusivity statement to

your list of qualifications Jobs are filled 6 faster when the description

includes an inclusion message or EEO statement Herersquos the Greenhouse

version (itrsquos the last item in the list of qualifications) ldquoYour own unique

talents If you donrsquot meet 100 of the qualifications outlined above tell

us why yoursquod be a great fit for this role in your cover letterrdquo

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 26

Here are a few important things to keep in mind to stay accountable to

your commitment to DEampI

Screen in over screening out

When reviewing resumes use the framework of screening in rather

than screening out While certain jobs will have hard requirements ndash an

engineer might need fluency in a certain coding language to perform in

their job ndash many employers are placing less emphasis on a strict set of

resume qualifications when determining who to move to the next stage

and thinking about how they can invest in training people who have

potential but donrsquot have specific qualifications

When conducting interviews many hiring managers get

understandably nervous when considering candidates from

backgrounds that are not currently represented on their team That

behavior is often grounded in similar-to-me bias and perpetuates

homogeneity Pay close attention to how you and your interviewers

react to historically underrepresented candidates and actively exercise

open-mindedness Your best hire may be the person who is different

from everyone else your team has hired in the past

Use the same criteria

To create an even playing field assess all candidates against the same

hiring criteria that yoursquove determined is necessary for the role which

is the core of structured hiring Similarly make sure each candidate is

answering the same interview questions from your interviewers This

allows your interviewers not only to focus on relevant areas to assess

but also to compare candidates in a data-driven and fair way in the

event yoursquore choosing between several finalists

Diversify your panel

Finally consider your interview panel Which demographic groups are

represented and which are not represented Do you have a panel of all

men Of all the same ethnicity or race Of all millennials If the answer

is yes to any of these scenarios how are you planning to address this

elephant in the room with candidates who identify differently Put

yourself in their shoes and be prepared to clearly explain why creating

a more diverse team is a priority for you

Once you have candidates entering your hiring pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices will really be put to the test

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 27

Measure wins by progress and improvements

If you donrsquot already have an extensive DEampI program at your

organization figuring out where to start can be challenging Who we

are informs everything we do ndash who we hire what we observe where

we live how we communicate ndash and it can be tough to know where to

focus when checking our own potential biases However starting with a

deep reflection of your hiring process is a way to take ownership of your

responsibility as a business leader to prioritize DEampI Your commitment

may not produce immediate results since company demographics

arenrsquot something that can change overnight but your efforts will drive

meaningful and positive change in the long run with respect to who you

hire and advocate for in your company

Own your influence As a leader you have the ability to influence others through your words

and actions Consider the ways you can demonstrate your commitment

to DEampI Here are some ideas to get you started

bull Sponsor an employee resource group and commit to helping

them achieve their goals

bull Attend diversity sourcing events and invite coworkers to join you

bull Refer candidates from overlookedunderrepresented groups to

open roles throughout your organization

bull Look for local organizations you can partner with ndash perhaps

you can sponsor a hackathon offer an internship or otherwise

support their mission

bull Ask for feedback and suggestions ndash your team might already

have some great ideas about how to prioritize DEampI

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 28

Part 5 For everyone

Creating an inclusive candidate experience to build stronger more diverse teamsEvery person in your company ndash regardless of their job title ndash can

contribute to inclusive hiring Whether theyrsquore making referrals

interviewing candidates or talking to prospects their actions can

have an impact on candidate experience Thatrsquos why itrsquos essential

to be intentional about the role everyone plays

Here are a few ways to create an inclusive candidate experience

Structured hiring

Structured hiring is an approach where selection decisions are

based on evidence not emotion Leaders align the role to a business

objective and build a rigorous and objective interview process

through conversations assignments and the like that can be used to

predict job performance Candidates are asked consistent questions

that connect back to specific attributes required for the role and

interviewers evaluate responses against a defined rating system in

the interview scorecard

In previous sections we covered how hiring managers and recruiters

can partner to implement structured hiring Remember that rolling

it out to your entire company will take time and effort Everyone

involved in the interview process will need to be trained on things

like how to conduct interviews take notes and score candidates

Consider integrating this training into new hire onboarding team

offsites or manager professional development to ensure everyone

stays up to date

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 29

Defining and hiring for culture add

Over the past several years wersquove seen companies move away

from assessing candidates on their ldquoculture fitrdquo because this term

can lead to homogeneous hiring But many companies still want

a way to determine whether candidates are aligned with their values

This is where ldquoculture addrdquo or values interviews can come into play

Culture-add interviews also give candidates the chance to meet

people from other teams and departments to get a broader sense of

your company culture

If culture-add interviews are part of your hiring process (or you want

them to be) yoursquoll want to consider the following

bull Who conducts culture-add interviews What is the selection

process like for identifying these interviewers within your

company and training them

bull Which questions does the culture-add interview cover How do

you define great acceptable and unacceptable answers

bull How often will you revisit and update this process

Hiring Maturity success story Neil Casey ThoughtWorks

In this limited podcast

series Greenhouse

President and Co-

founder Jon Stross sat

down with talent leaders

from leading companies

to discuss their Hiring

Maturity journeys Listen

in as Jon invites Neil

Casey Global Head of

Sourcing and Strategic

Hiring at ThoughtWorks

to discuss building an

inclusive hiring process

at scale

Explore the Greenhouse DEampI feature set

Take structured interviewing to the next level with solutions that enable

recruiters interviewers and hiring managers to operationalize and

scale fairer hiring practices Herersquos a brief overview of the Greenhouse

DEampI feature set

Data collection and reporting ndash Track self-reported applicant

demographic data throughout the hiring funnel (from sourcing

to offer) and measure pass-throughdrop-off rates

In-the-moment interventions ndash Reminders that nudge users to

slow down and avoid instinctive mental shortcuts that arenrsquot

rooted in evidence or tied to job-relevant criteria

Structured decision-making ndash Added guardrails that support

a more objective selection process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 30

Encouraging an inclusive approach to employee referrals

Employee referrals are a great way to get everyone involved in the

hiring process Itrsquos exciting to have a hand in shaping the future of your

company while helping someone in your network land their next role

But certain groups tend to benefit from referrals more than others

which can lead to more homogeneity

The good news is that referrals donrsquot automatically lead to

homogeneous hires according to research by DEampI consultancy

Paradigm They partnered with Pinterest to determine why employee

referrals tend to be homogenous Is it because peoplersquos networks

are truly that homogenous or is it due to pattern-matching bias

(employees are looking around at their coworkers and only thinking

of people who are similar to the existing team) Paradigm found that

when a leader asked employees to be more mindful about diversity

when offering referrals especially people of color and women it made

a tangible impact over the following six weeks So be sure to encourage

employees to consider diversity when making referrals

DonorsChoose takes a data-driven approach to DEampI in their hiring

DonorsChoosersquos challenge Develop a hiring process that aligns with

the organizationrsquos commitment to DEampI in their work in education

DonorsChoose has a high standard for their DEampI hiring efforts and

wanted to intentionally drive a more diverse candidate pool To do so

they had to prioritize gathering better data on diversity in their hiring

pools Without that data conversations between the People and Talent

team and hiring managers felt uninformed and ineffective

DonorsChoose wanted data at their fingertips to drive their DEampI

hiring efforts The Greenhouse DEampI feature set offered them a robust

set of tools Since turning on custom demographic reporting the

DonorsChoose team has seen an improvement and recognized that

now 58 of the candidates who have made it to the face-to-face

interview stage at DonorsChoose have identified as people of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 31

ConclusionWe recommend sitting with these strategies for a few days rather than

immediately jumping into action Take time to reflect on your next

steps and collaborate with your internal partners in order to create the

optimal DEampI hiring strategy for your company

Remember that when it comes to DEampI therersquos no ldquoend staterdquo to arrive

at Wersquore all on the same journey of curiosity listening progress and

discovery

If yoursquod like to do further reading or research on any of the topics we

covered wersquove curated a list of recommended reading for you

We are your partners and allies and stand beside you in this work and

will help you as best we can All of us at Greenhouse are committed to

bringing about lasting change and we will be your partner in creating

a more equitable hiring process so you can build more inclusive

stronger teams

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 32

Recommended reading

DEampI strategy Creating an Effective Diversity and Inclusion

Program

DEampI strategy Hiring Diverse Candidates is Not Enough ndash

Itrsquos About Keeping Them

DEampI strategy Toward a Racially Just Workplace

DEampI strategy Why So Many Organizations Stay White

DEampI strategy Do Your DampI Efforts Include People with

Disabilities

Hiring If Therersquos Only One Woman in Your Candidate

Pool Therersquos Statisically No Chance Shersquoll Be

Hired

Hiring A Data-Driven Approach to Hiring More

Diverse Talent

Hiring How to Alter Your Hiring Practices to Increase

Diversity

Hiring Research How Speech Patterns Lead to

Hiring Bias

Intersectionality Do Your Diversity Efforts Reflect the

Experiences of Women of Color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 33

Recommended reading (continued)

Sourcing Could This Be The Secret To Hiring More

Women And People Of Color

Sourcing Diversity Sourcing Strategy 3 LinkedIn

Search Tips from Boolean Master Glen

Cathey

Sourcing How to increase workplace diversity with

employee referrals

Unconscious bias Managing Unconscious Bias Strategies to

Manage Bias amp Build More Diverse Inclusive

Organizations

Unconscious bias 50 Ways to Fight Bias

Unconscious bias 12 Unconscious Bias Examples and How to

Avoid Them in the Workplace

Unconscious bias Harvard Project Implicit Association Tests

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 34

Greenhouse is the hiring software company

We help businesses be great at hiring through

our powerful hiring approach complete suite of

software and services and large partner ecosystem ndash

so businesses can hire for whatrsquos next

To learn more visit

greenhouseio

Page 15: eBook Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company

Sharing examples like these will help your team know what yoursquore

looking for Review interviewersrsquo feedback regularly Ask probing

questions about any comments that are vague or excessively

inferential Encourage them to anchor their decisions in the key

takeaways of your interview rubric

While the steps outlined above might be a pretty significant shift from

the way your team has been approaching interviewing making these

changes to your interview process can help mitigate bias and open the

door to qualified candidates from a broader range of backgrounds

Remember that you donrsquot have to do this all on your own ndash your

recruiters are your partners throughout this process Be sure to seek

their advice and input on attributes interview questions decision-

making criteria and any other area where you need a little extra

support

Pro tip

Encourage interviewers

to structure their

conversations with brief

intros (the longer the

intro the greater the

odds that an interviewer

will base their decision

on likability rather than

merit) Explain to your

team that they are

evaluating candidates

based on what they

can contribute not

popularity

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 15

Part 3 For recruiting teams

Recognizing and addressing biased behaviors in hiringAs a recruiter yoursquore responsible for the tools and processes that

shape hiring in your organization And when your company commits

to inclusive hiring a hefty portion of the responsibility will also fall on

your plate

Promoting inclusion often begins by looking at your hiring process

and putting systems in place to mitigate bias When you limit the role

bias plays in decision-making you can open the door to candidates

from traditionally underrepresented groups

In this section wersquoll offer a broad overview of how to recognize and

address bias in hiring

Recognizing biased behaviors in hiring

How can recruiters help their organizations mitigate bias in the hiring

process You can start by understanding when and where bias is likely

to pop up Wersquove summarized some of the research and collected a few

resources to help you begin your exploration of this topic

As you read through the points on the next page do any problematic

aspects of your existing process surface If so make a note to dive

deeper into those topics Wersquoll share some ideas in the next few

sections to give you a jumping-off point

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 16

bull Jargon and superficial language in job posts can

discourage women from applying and perpetuate inequality

bull Over-indexing on referrals from a homogenous workforce

(typically with less-diverse networks) can close the door for

people of color and women

bull Measuring talent through academic or employer history (both

have low predictive validity on job performance) limits access

for candidates excluded from those networks

bull People of color and women are more likely to receive offers if

another finalist shares their identity

bull Low-diversity interview teams may signal larger issues for

candidates from underrepresented groups

bull Resumes with more ldquowhite-soundingrdquo names are more likely to

be advanced in the hiring process

bull Candidates are often evaluated on their perceived ease in

assimilating or fitting into the culture rather than their capacity

to perform in the role and add to the companyrsquos culture

bull Traditional unstructured interviews are highly vulnerable to

bias ndash without consistent criteria or rubrics poorly trained

interviewers make impulse-driven decisions when evaluating

candidates

bull Interview notes are often scant high-inference or based on

likability rather than objective with examples that validate

advancement or rejection

bull Gender pay gaps persist in part because women fear reprisal for

initiating salary negotiation (from other women and men) and

compensation disparities are even wider for women of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 17

Addressing biased behaviors

Bias is a mental algorithm that can be disrupted through conscious

behavior change Effective and inclusive hiring isnrsquot so much a skill as

it is a collection of habits that can enable more inclusive outcomes and

change company cultures

Here are some practical steps you can take and tools to try out based

on the observations you noted earlier Wersquove divided these tips by

pipeline stage (sourcing screening selecting and hiring)

Sourcing

bull Clarify the attributes yoursquore looking for (capabilities performance

objectives etc) during your kickoff meeting using a structured

hiring template

bull Consider partnering with text-augmenting software like Textio

TapRecruit or Gender Decoder to expose and change the words

that may disrupt diversity at the top of your funnel

bull Solicit referrals for underrepresented talent (with added financial

incentive if possible) as an important DEampI initiative that can

also lead to greater retention and lower reports of workplace

inequity

bull The recruiting platform Gem recommends using diversity salient

strategies like targeting talent from bootcamps or affinity-based

organizations like TransTech Social and the National Society of

Black Engineers

bull Audit your job posts to determine which requirements are

essential and which are extraneous remove jargon and focus on

producing (and disseminating) content that appeals to the widest

net possible

bull Use Boolean searches in LinkedIn to find overlooked talent

by searching for alumni of colleges with high diversity indices

or affinity-based organizations like fraternities sororities and

cultural interest groups

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 18

A simple structured hiring template

Want to add more structure

to your hiring process

Here are a few questions

and points to consider next

time you open a new role

Who are you trying to hire

bull Role name

bull Department

bull Who will this person report to

bull What business objectives are you trying to meet with this role

How will you evaluate the candidate

bull Skills

bull Personality traits

bull Qualifications

What will the interview process look like

bull Define the interview stages (application review phone screen

hiring manager interview etc)

bull Decide which qualities will be assessed in each stage

bull Plan out the questions or assessments for each quality

Screening

bull Based on your structured hiring template design an effective

scorecard and create clear evaluation criteria that your

interviewers can discuss in their roundups to make informed

objective decisions when assessing candidates (see page 21 for

a quick introduction to scorecards)

bull Ensure your focus attributes are specific measurable attainable

and relevant to the role(s) yoursquore recruiting for

bull Consider integrating your companyrsquos performance management

competencies (if possible) when determining focus attributes if

you have difficulty developing new ones

bull Using the performance outcomes for the role develop a bank

of behavioral and situational interview questions that match the

complexity of the role

bull Define the range of answers for your questions from exemplary

to unacceptable and train your interviewers on how to document

their feedback in the scorecard

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 19

bull Mitigate opportunities for late-stage interviewers to be

influencedbiased by previously submitted scorecards

bull Train members of employee resource groups (ERGs) to

participate as interviewers to ensure a balance of perspectives

bull Evaluate whether leveraging skills-based hiring makes sense for

your company

bull Work samples or assessments have the highest predictive

validity for job performance and grading them anonymously can

help mitigate bias

Selecting

bull Assessments like Predictive Index can help you identify

candidates who can balance out your team

bull Establish clear consistent candidate evaluation criteria for your

interviewers to adhere to as a part of a structured hiring process

bull Train your interviewers with proper interview prep material use

focus attributes to eliminate redundancy and require detailed

low-inference and objective interview notes for every attribute

assessed

bull Review all interview feedback ask probing questions about

vague or inferential comments and encourage interviewers to

anchor their decisions in the key takeaways of your interview

rubric

Hiring

bull Audit your compensation structure to ensure that salaries are at

market rate and determine your thresholds for salary negotiation

regardless of the candidate

bull Be transparent about your compensation philosophy and

consider not allowing anyone to negotiate compensation to

drive pay equity

bull Review comments from candidate surveys to measure candidate

experience and leverage the data to make iterations where

necessary throughout your process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 20

Creating attributes

Aim for at least 3ndash6 mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive

focus attributes per category for your scorecards Consider integrating

the SMART (Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-based)

framework to ensure your interviewers are enabled to measure what

matters

Building interview questions

Collaborate with hiring managers to design custom interview questions

for each attribute deemed necessary for success in the role Aligning

these questions to your scorecard focus attributes enables your

interviewers to make informed decisions that can more accurately

predict job performance

Establishing a decision-making framework

After developing your focus attributes and interview questions be sure

to define evaluation expectations for interview teams Ideally each

attribute-aligned question will include a specific rubric that outlines what

interviewers should look for in candidate answers and assessments

You can adapt this scorecard rating system to suit your company

Scorecard essentials for everyone

Scorecards are

fundamental to structured

hiring Consistent

candidate evaluation helps

mitigate interviewer bias

reduce total interview time

and drive a more evidence-

based decision framework

for selecting the right

talent

Herersquos a high-level

overview of scorecard

essentials

Strong yes is an exemplary response that clearly addresses each

element of the question with distinct examples (if appropriate)

Yes is a solid acceptable response that addresses most or all elements

of the question with clear examples

Mixed is an inconclusive response that may partially address the

question but does not provide the interviewer with evidence about the

candidatersquos capabilities A mixed rating does not equate to ldquoI donrsquot

knowrdquo ndash when an interviewer doesnrsquot have enough evidence they

should leave the attribute blank

No is an unacceptable response that ignores most or multiple

elements of the question

Strong no is an extremely unacceptable answer that doesnrsquot address

the question at all andor contains a comment that conflicts with your

companyrsquos culture Beyond that answers may blatantly disparage

others former employers communities etc

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 21

Part 4 For business leaders

Prioritizing DEampIForward-thinking business leaders (like you) are actively focused on

elevating their DEampI practices ndash not only to ensure that their teams

accurately reflect the demographics of their local population but also

to create a work environment that offers equitable opportunities where

people of all identities can thrive

Traditionally business leaders have looked to recruiting teams to

shoulder the work of diversifying the candidates moving through their

hiring pipelines However great business leaders understand that DEampI

is a company-wide commitment starting from the top ndash at Greenhouse

we call this the Talent Maker mindset

In a world where 57 of employees believe their companies should

improve diversity among their internal workforce and 86 of job

seekers actively seek out companies with diverse employee bases

proactively building inclusive hiring practices to allow for a better

diversity of hires isnrsquot just the right thing to do ndash itrsquos the smart thing

to do

McKinsey found that companies in the top quartile for racialethnic and

gender diversity were respectively 35 and 15 more likely to have

financial returns above the national median for their particular industry

That means being great at hiring today is about a lot more than how

quickly you make a hire Itrsquos also about exercising inclusive hiring

practices and having diversity on both sides of the interview process

among your interviewers and your candidates Itrsquos about business

leaders getting involved with DEampI to generate meaningful outcomes

No matter how valiantly a recruiter works to fill the top of a recruiting

funnel with underrepresented candidates if hiring managers donrsquot

similarly prioritize inclusive hiring those candidates will inevitably

leave the funnel ndash whether by choice or through the adverse impact of

unconscious bias

Letrsquos explore some of the ways that Talent Makers can boost DEampI in

their hiring strategies

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 22

Before focusing externally look internally at your own company

Diversifying your team isnrsquot only about bringing in a new hire who can

add a new perspective Itrsquos just as much about creating an environment

that allows that new hire to share their perspective and feel heard

Some leaders may skirt conversations around identity ndash by claiming to

be ldquocolorblindrdquo when it comes to race for example ndash but great leaders

lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each

employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

Ask questions

What does all this mean through the lens of hiring As you start

thinking about how to source underrepresented candidates answer

these questions

bull Why would a candidate from an underrepresented group want to

join your team

bull How would you articulate your commitment to supporting and

advocating for them as a manager

bull If you were releasing a public statement or articulating your

companyrsquos commitment to equity in response toin solidarity

with a societal movement how would you differentiate your

company from other organizations in a way thatrsquos authentic

bull More importantly how will you hold yourself accountable over

time for driving the changes you want to see

Next take a hard look at the demographics of your team Determine

the following

bull Which demographic groups ndash including but not limited to

gender raceethnicity sexual orientation industry experience

seniority education socioeconomic status and ability status ndash

are represented

bull Which groups are you lacking or are underrepresented

bull Look for patterns in the profiles of the people yoursquove hired up to

now ndash do they imply an inclination toward a certain personality

type background set of qualifications or even raceethnicity

bull If so how are you justifying that

Great leaders lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 23

bull Could you inadvertently be screening for privilege (think

preferred schools or degrees) rather than for ability and

potential

Have the conversation

Itrsquos time to invite your team into the conversation This can be the

uncomfortable part especially if yoursquore in an environment that

doesnrsquot have a precedent for such dialogues Actively sharing why

yoursquore prioritizing DEampI will signal its importance to your team help

address any discrepancies and start building the muscle for healthy

conversations on topics like race Yoursquoll also drive new awareness

and behaviors that can have outsized impacts on who you hire by

influencing your interview panels to be more open-minded and provide

better interviewing experiences to underrepresented candidates

Finally collaborate with your people operations or HR team to review

current department demographics based on self-reported employee

data This will lead to informed discussions about which groups to

focus on when diversifying hiring pipelines which ties back to your

goals around having better representation among your employees

Write your job descriptionsjob posts through an inclusive lens

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader

is a job description for a role on your team Itrsquos the first touchpoint

candidates have with your team and it directly impacts who does ndash

and doesnrsquot ndash engage in your interview process

Here are tips on how to make your job descriptions more inclusive ndash

and more attractive to the candidates yoursquore targeting

Identify and rework inherently biased language

Countless job descriptions contain language that is gendered which

can skew your talent pool before you even interact with candidates

Platforms like Textio leverage artificial intelligence to help remove

gender bias business jargon and other phrases that reinforce

stereotypes in written content

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader is a job description for a role on your team

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 24

Describe goals and growth opportunities

Focus on describing the exciting goals and clear objectives of the

job rather than listing day-to-day responsibilities that arenrsquot tied to

outcomes This will not only inspire candidates it will also help them

decide if what theyrsquoll own and learn in your job is aligned with their

career goals

Examples of unintentionally biased language

Masculine-tone

Exhaustive

Enforcement

Fearless

Feminine-tone

Transparent

Catalyst

In touch with

Textio writes ldquoA language pattern is considered gendered if it

statistically changes the proportion of men and women who respond

to a job post containing itrdquo Their research reveals that in jobs where

a man is hired the original job post averages almost twice as many

masculine-tone phrases as feminine In jobs where a woman is hired

Textio finds the exact opposite there are twice as many feminine-tone

phrases as masculine in the job post Here are a few common phrases

that exert this type of bias effect

bull What are the goals and outcomes you want this person to achieve

bull What are the success metrics being tracked and the desired outcomes

bull What does growth look like on your team when someone delivers

quarter over quarter

bull Who will this person be actively collaborating with

Questions to answer in your job description

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 25

Focus on skills over requirements

Carefully consider each requirement yoursquore adding to your job

description Can you shift your focus away from a specific number

of years of work experience or required degrees and move toward

a candidatersquos abilities Could you take it a step further and include

verbiage that encourages candidates to apply even if they might not

have all the necessary qualifications

Get other opinions

Continue to iterate and socialize your job description Share it with

someone whorsquos currently in the role or someone who represents an

underrepresented demographic group to learn if there are better ways to

position the content Incorporating feedback from different perspectives

is key to eliminating unintentional biases in the language

Use structured hiring to mitigate unconscious bias

Now that yoursquove communicated your focus on diversity and published

an inclusive job description you might think most of your work is

behind you After all isnrsquot the process mostly in your recruiterrsquos hands

from here Not just yet Once you have candidates entering your hiring

pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices

will really be put to the test

Consider adding an inclusivity statement

Is your job description unintentionally scaring candidates away

Research shows that women tend to only apply for jobs when they meet

100 of the requirements One way to encourage candidates from

diverse backgrounds to apply is by adding an inclusivity statement to

your list of qualifications Jobs are filled 6 faster when the description

includes an inclusion message or EEO statement Herersquos the Greenhouse

version (itrsquos the last item in the list of qualifications) ldquoYour own unique

talents If you donrsquot meet 100 of the qualifications outlined above tell

us why yoursquod be a great fit for this role in your cover letterrdquo

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 26

Here are a few important things to keep in mind to stay accountable to

your commitment to DEampI

Screen in over screening out

When reviewing resumes use the framework of screening in rather

than screening out While certain jobs will have hard requirements ndash an

engineer might need fluency in a certain coding language to perform in

their job ndash many employers are placing less emphasis on a strict set of

resume qualifications when determining who to move to the next stage

and thinking about how they can invest in training people who have

potential but donrsquot have specific qualifications

When conducting interviews many hiring managers get

understandably nervous when considering candidates from

backgrounds that are not currently represented on their team That

behavior is often grounded in similar-to-me bias and perpetuates

homogeneity Pay close attention to how you and your interviewers

react to historically underrepresented candidates and actively exercise

open-mindedness Your best hire may be the person who is different

from everyone else your team has hired in the past

Use the same criteria

To create an even playing field assess all candidates against the same

hiring criteria that yoursquove determined is necessary for the role which

is the core of structured hiring Similarly make sure each candidate is

answering the same interview questions from your interviewers This

allows your interviewers not only to focus on relevant areas to assess

but also to compare candidates in a data-driven and fair way in the

event yoursquore choosing between several finalists

Diversify your panel

Finally consider your interview panel Which demographic groups are

represented and which are not represented Do you have a panel of all

men Of all the same ethnicity or race Of all millennials If the answer

is yes to any of these scenarios how are you planning to address this

elephant in the room with candidates who identify differently Put

yourself in their shoes and be prepared to clearly explain why creating

a more diverse team is a priority for you

Once you have candidates entering your hiring pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices will really be put to the test

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 27

Measure wins by progress and improvements

If you donrsquot already have an extensive DEampI program at your

organization figuring out where to start can be challenging Who we

are informs everything we do ndash who we hire what we observe where

we live how we communicate ndash and it can be tough to know where to

focus when checking our own potential biases However starting with a

deep reflection of your hiring process is a way to take ownership of your

responsibility as a business leader to prioritize DEampI Your commitment

may not produce immediate results since company demographics

arenrsquot something that can change overnight but your efforts will drive

meaningful and positive change in the long run with respect to who you

hire and advocate for in your company

Own your influence As a leader you have the ability to influence others through your words

and actions Consider the ways you can demonstrate your commitment

to DEampI Here are some ideas to get you started

bull Sponsor an employee resource group and commit to helping

them achieve their goals

bull Attend diversity sourcing events and invite coworkers to join you

bull Refer candidates from overlookedunderrepresented groups to

open roles throughout your organization

bull Look for local organizations you can partner with ndash perhaps

you can sponsor a hackathon offer an internship or otherwise

support their mission

bull Ask for feedback and suggestions ndash your team might already

have some great ideas about how to prioritize DEampI

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 28

Part 5 For everyone

Creating an inclusive candidate experience to build stronger more diverse teamsEvery person in your company ndash regardless of their job title ndash can

contribute to inclusive hiring Whether theyrsquore making referrals

interviewing candidates or talking to prospects their actions can

have an impact on candidate experience Thatrsquos why itrsquos essential

to be intentional about the role everyone plays

Here are a few ways to create an inclusive candidate experience

Structured hiring

Structured hiring is an approach where selection decisions are

based on evidence not emotion Leaders align the role to a business

objective and build a rigorous and objective interview process

through conversations assignments and the like that can be used to

predict job performance Candidates are asked consistent questions

that connect back to specific attributes required for the role and

interviewers evaluate responses against a defined rating system in

the interview scorecard

In previous sections we covered how hiring managers and recruiters

can partner to implement structured hiring Remember that rolling

it out to your entire company will take time and effort Everyone

involved in the interview process will need to be trained on things

like how to conduct interviews take notes and score candidates

Consider integrating this training into new hire onboarding team

offsites or manager professional development to ensure everyone

stays up to date

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 29

Defining and hiring for culture add

Over the past several years wersquove seen companies move away

from assessing candidates on their ldquoculture fitrdquo because this term

can lead to homogeneous hiring But many companies still want

a way to determine whether candidates are aligned with their values

This is where ldquoculture addrdquo or values interviews can come into play

Culture-add interviews also give candidates the chance to meet

people from other teams and departments to get a broader sense of

your company culture

If culture-add interviews are part of your hiring process (or you want

them to be) yoursquoll want to consider the following

bull Who conducts culture-add interviews What is the selection

process like for identifying these interviewers within your

company and training them

bull Which questions does the culture-add interview cover How do

you define great acceptable and unacceptable answers

bull How often will you revisit and update this process

Hiring Maturity success story Neil Casey ThoughtWorks

In this limited podcast

series Greenhouse

President and Co-

founder Jon Stross sat

down with talent leaders

from leading companies

to discuss their Hiring

Maturity journeys Listen

in as Jon invites Neil

Casey Global Head of

Sourcing and Strategic

Hiring at ThoughtWorks

to discuss building an

inclusive hiring process

at scale

Explore the Greenhouse DEampI feature set

Take structured interviewing to the next level with solutions that enable

recruiters interviewers and hiring managers to operationalize and

scale fairer hiring practices Herersquos a brief overview of the Greenhouse

DEampI feature set

Data collection and reporting ndash Track self-reported applicant

demographic data throughout the hiring funnel (from sourcing

to offer) and measure pass-throughdrop-off rates

In-the-moment interventions ndash Reminders that nudge users to

slow down and avoid instinctive mental shortcuts that arenrsquot

rooted in evidence or tied to job-relevant criteria

Structured decision-making ndash Added guardrails that support

a more objective selection process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 30

Encouraging an inclusive approach to employee referrals

Employee referrals are a great way to get everyone involved in the

hiring process Itrsquos exciting to have a hand in shaping the future of your

company while helping someone in your network land their next role

But certain groups tend to benefit from referrals more than others

which can lead to more homogeneity

The good news is that referrals donrsquot automatically lead to

homogeneous hires according to research by DEampI consultancy

Paradigm They partnered with Pinterest to determine why employee

referrals tend to be homogenous Is it because peoplersquos networks

are truly that homogenous or is it due to pattern-matching bias

(employees are looking around at their coworkers and only thinking

of people who are similar to the existing team) Paradigm found that

when a leader asked employees to be more mindful about diversity

when offering referrals especially people of color and women it made

a tangible impact over the following six weeks So be sure to encourage

employees to consider diversity when making referrals

DonorsChoose takes a data-driven approach to DEampI in their hiring

DonorsChoosersquos challenge Develop a hiring process that aligns with

the organizationrsquos commitment to DEampI in their work in education

DonorsChoose has a high standard for their DEampI hiring efforts and

wanted to intentionally drive a more diverse candidate pool To do so

they had to prioritize gathering better data on diversity in their hiring

pools Without that data conversations between the People and Talent

team and hiring managers felt uninformed and ineffective

DonorsChoose wanted data at their fingertips to drive their DEampI

hiring efforts The Greenhouse DEampI feature set offered them a robust

set of tools Since turning on custom demographic reporting the

DonorsChoose team has seen an improvement and recognized that

now 58 of the candidates who have made it to the face-to-face

interview stage at DonorsChoose have identified as people of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 31

ConclusionWe recommend sitting with these strategies for a few days rather than

immediately jumping into action Take time to reflect on your next

steps and collaborate with your internal partners in order to create the

optimal DEampI hiring strategy for your company

Remember that when it comes to DEampI therersquos no ldquoend staterdquo to arrive

at Wersquore all on the same journey of curiosity listening progress and

discovery

If yoursquod like to do further reading or research on any of the topics we

covered wersquove curated a list of recommended reading for you

We are your partners and allies and stand beside you in this work and

will help you as best we can All of us at Greenhouse are committed to

bringing about lasting change and we will be your partner in creating

a more equitable hiring process so you can build more inclusive

stronger teams

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 32

Recommended reading

DEampI strategy Creating an Effective Diversity and Inclusion

Program

DEampI strategy Hiring Diverse Candidates is Not Enough ndash

Itrsquos About Keeping Them

DEampI strategy Toward a Racially Just Workplace

DEampI strategy Why So Many Organizations Stay White

DEampI strategy Do Your DampI Efforts Include People with

Disabilities

Hiring If Therersquos Only One Woman in Your Candidate

Pool Therersquos Statisically No Chance Shersquoll Be

Hired

Hiring A Data-Driven Approach to Hiring More

Diverse Talent

Hiring How to Alter Your Hiring Practices to Increase

Diversity

Hiring Research How Speech Patterns Lead to

Hiring Bias

Intersectionality Do Your Diversity Efforts Reflect the

Experiences of Women of Color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 33

Recommended reading (continued)

Sourcing Could This Be The Secret To Hiring More

Women And People Of Color

Sourcing Diversity Sourcing Strategy 3 LinkedIn

Search Tips from Boolean Master Glen

Cathey

Sourcing How to increase workplace diversity with

employee referrals

Unconscious bias Managing Unconscious Bias Strategies to

Manage Bias amp Build More Diverse Inclusive

Organizations

Unconscious bias 50 Ways to Fight Bias

Unconscious bias 12 Unconscious Bias Examples and How to

Avoid Them in the Workplace

Unconscious bias Harvard Project Implicit Association Tests

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 34

Greenhouse is the hiring software company

We help businesses be great at hiring through

our powerful hiring approach complete suite of

software and services and large partner ecosystem ndash

so businesses can hire for whatrsquos next

To learn more visit

greenhouseio

Page 16: eBook Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company

Part 3 For recruiting teams

Recognizing and addressing biased behaviors in hiringAs a recruiter yoursquore responsible for the tools and processes that

shape hiring in your organization And when your company commits

to inclusive hiring a hefty portion of the responsibility will also fall on

your plate

Promoting inclusion often begins by looking at your hiring process

and putting systems in place to mitigate bias When you limit the role

bias plays in decision-making you can open the door to candidates

from traditionally underrepresented groups

In this section wersquoll offer a broad overview of how to recognize and

address bias in hiring

Recognizing biased behaviors in hiring

How can recruiters help their organizations mitigate bias in the hiring

process You can start by understanding when and where bias is likely

to pop up Wersquove summarized some of the research and collected a few

resources to help you begin your exploration of this topic

As you read through the points on the next page do any problematic

aspects of your existing process surface If so make a note to dive

deeper into those topics Wersquoll share some ideas in the next few

sections to give you a jumping-off point

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 16

bull Jargon and superficial language in job posts can

discourage women from applying and perpetuate inequality

bull Over-indexing on referrals from a homogenous workforce

(typically with less-diverse networks) can close the door for

people of color and women

bull Measuring talent through academic or employer history (both

have low predictive validity on job performance) limits access

for candidates excluded from those networks

bull People of color and women are more likely to receive offers if

another finalist shares their identity

bull Low-diversity interview teams may signal larger issues for

candidates from underrepresented groups

bull Resumes with more ldquowhite-soundingrdquo names are more likely to

be advanced in the hiring process

bull Candidates are often evaluated on their perceived ease in

assimilating or fitting into the culture rather than their capacity

to perform in the role and add to the companyrsquos culture

bull Traditional unstructured interviews are highly vulnerable to

bias ndash without consistent criteria or rubrics poorly trained

interviewers make impulse-driven decisions when evaluating

candidates

bull Interview notes are often scant high-inference or based on

likability rather than objective with examples that validate

advancement or rejection

bull Gender pay gaps persist in part because women fear reprisal for

initiating salary negotiation (from other women and men) and

compensation disparities are even wider for women of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 17

Addressing biased behaviors

Bias is a mental algorithm that can be disrupted through conscious

behavior change Effective and inclusive hiring isnrsquot so much a skill as

it is a collection of habits that can enable more inclusive outcomes and

change company cultures

Here are some practical steps you can take and tools to try out based

on the observations you noted earlier Wersquove divided these tips by

pipeline stage (sourcing screening selecting and hiring)

Sourcing

bull Clarify the attributes yoursquore looking for (capabilities performance

objectives etc) during your kickoff meeting using a structured

hiring template

bull Consider partnering with text-augmenting software like Textio

TapRecruit or Gender Decoder to expose and change the words

that may disrupt diversity at the top of your funnel

bull Solicit referrals for underrepresented talent (with added financial

incentive if possible) as an important DEampI initiative that can

also lead to greater retention and lower reports of workplace

inequity

bull The recruiting platform Gem recommends using diversity salient

strategies like targeting talent from bootcamps or affinity-based

organizations like TransTech Social and the National Society of

Black Engineers

bull Audit your job posts to determine which requirements are

essential and which are extraneous remove jargon and focus on

producing (and disseminating) content that appeals to the widest

net possible

bull Use Boolean searches in LinkedIn to find overlooked talent

by searching for alumni of colleges with high diversity indices

or affinity-based organizations like fraternities sororities and

cultural interest groups

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 18

A simple structured hiring template

Want to add more structure

to your hiring process

Here are a few questions

and points to consider next

time you open a new role

Who are you trying to hire

bull Role name

bull Department

bull Who will this person report to

bull What business objectives are you trying to meet with this role

How will you evaluate the candidate

bull Skills

bull Personality traits

bull Qualifications

What will the interview process look like

bull Define the interview stages (application review phone screen

hiring manager interview etc)

bull Decide which qualities will be assessed in each stage

bull Plan out the questions or assessments for each quality

Screening

bull Based on your structured hiring template design an effective

scorecard and create clear evaluation criteria that your

interviewers can discuss in their roundups to make informed

objective decisions when assessing candidates (see page 21 for

a quick introduction to scorecards)

bull Ensure your focus attributes are specific measurable attainable

and relevant to the role(s) yoursquore recruiting for

bull Consider integrating your companyrsquos performance management

competencies (if possible) when determining focus attributes if

you have difficulty developing new ones

bull Using the performance outcomes for the role develop a bank

of behavioral and situational interview questions that match the

complexity of the role

bull Define the range of answers for your questions from exemplary

to unacceptable and train your interviewers on how to document

their feedback in the scorecard

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 19

bull Mitigate opportunities for late-stage interviewers to be

influencedbiased by previously submitted scorecards

bull Train members of employee resource groups (ERGs) to

participate as interviewers to ensure a balance of perspectives

bull Evaluate whether leveraging skills-based hiring makes sense for

your company

bull Work samples or assessments have the highest predictive

validity for job performance and grading them anonymously can

help mitigate bias

Selecting

bull Assessments like Predictive Index can help you identify

candidates who can balance out your team

bull Establish clear consistent candidate evaluation criteria for your

interviewers to adhere to as a part of a structured hiring process

bull Train your interviewers with proper interview prep material use

focus attributes to eliminate redundancy and require detailed

low-inference and objective interview notes for every attribute

assessed

bull Review all interview feedback ask probing questions about

vague or inferential comments and encourage interviewers to

anchor their decisions in the key takeaways of your interview

rubric

Hiring

bull Audit your compensation structure to ensure that salaries are at

market rate and determine your thresholds for salary negotiation

regardless of the candidate

bull Be transparent about your compensation philosophy and

consider not allowing anyone to negotiate compensation to

drive pay equity

bull Review comments from candidate surveys to measure candidate

experience and leverage the data to make iterations where

necessary throughout your process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 20

Creating attributes

Aim for at least 3ndash6 mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive

focus attributes per category for your scorecards Consider integrating

the SMART (Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-based)

framework to ensure your interviewers are enabled to measure what

matters

Building interview questions

Collaborate with hiring managers to design custom interview questions

for each attribute deemed necessary for success in the role Aligning

these questions to your scorecard focus attributes enables your

interviewers to make informed decisions that can more accurately

predict job performance

Establishing a decision-making framework

After developing your focus attributes and interview questions be sure

to define evaluation expectations for interview teams Ideally each

attribute-aligned question will include a specific rubric that outlines what

interviewers should look for in candidate answers and assessments

You can adapt this scorecard rating system to suit your company

Scorecard essentials for everyone

Scorecards are

fundamental to structured

hiring Consistent

candidate evaluation helps

mitigate interviewer bias

reduce total interview time

and drive a more evidence-

based decision framework

for selecting the right

talent

Herersquos a high-level

overview of scorecard

essentials

Strong yes is an exemplary response that clearly addresses each

element of the question with distinct examples (if appropriate)

Yes is a solid acceptable response that addresses most or all elements

of the question with clear examples

Mixed is an inconclusive response that may partially address the

question but does not provide the interviewer with evidence about the

candidatersquos capabilities A mixed rating does not equate to ldquoI donrsquot

knowrdquo ndash when an interviewer doesnrsquot have enough evidence they

should leave the attribute blank

No is an unacceptable response that ignores most or multiple

elements of the question

Strong no is an extremely unacceptable answer that doesnrsquot address

the question at all andor contains a comment that conflicts with your

companyrsquos culture Beyond that answers may blatantly disparage

others former employers communities etc

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 21

Part 4 For business leaders

Prioritizing DEampIForward-thinking business leaders (like you) are actively focused on

elevating their DEampI practices ndash not only to ensure that their teams

accurately reflect the demographics of their local population but also

to create a work environment that offers equitable opportunities where

people of all identities can thrive

Traditionally business leaders have looked to recruiting teams to

shoulder the work of diversifying the candidates moving through their

hiring pipelines However great business leaders understand that DEampI

is a company-wide commitment starting from the top ndash at Greenhouse

we call this the Talent Maker mindset

In a world where 57 of employees believe their companies should

improve diversity among their internal workforce and 86 of job

seekers actively seek out companies with diverse employee bases

proactively building inclusive hiring practices to allow for a better

diversity of hires isnrsquot just the right thing to do ndash itrsquos the smart thing

to do

McKinsey found that companies in the top quartile for racialethnic and

gender diversity were respectively 35 and 15 more likely to have

financial returns above the national median for their particular industry

That means being great at hiring today is about a lot more than how

quickly you make a hire Itrsquos also about exercising inclusive hiring

practices and having diversity on both sides of the interview process

among your interviewers and your candidates Itrsquos about business

leaders getting involved with DEampI to generate meaningful outcomes

No matter how valiantly a recruiter works to fill the top of a recruiting

funnel with underrepresented candidates if hiring managers donrsquot

similarly prioritize inclusive hiring those candidates will inevitably

leave the funnel ndash whether by choice or through the adverse impact of

unconscious bias

Letrsquos explore some of the ways that Talent Makers can boost DEampI in

their hiring strategies

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 22

Before focusing externally look internally at your own company

Diversifying your team isnrsquot only about bringing in a new hire who can

add a new perspective Itrsquos just as much about creating an environment

that allows that new hire to share their perspective and feel heard

Some leaders may skirt conversations around identity ndash by claiming to

be ldquocolorblindrdquo when it comes to race for example ndash but great leaders

lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each

employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

Ask questions

What does all this mean through the lens of hiring As you start

thinking about how to source underrepresented candidates answer

these questions

bull Why would a candidate from an underrepresented group want to

join your team

bull How would you articulate your commitment to supporting and

advocating for them as a manager

bull If you were releasing a public statement or articulating your

companyrsquos commitment to equity in response toin solidarity

with a societal movement how would you differentiate your

company from other organizations in a way thatrsquos authentic

bull More importantly how will you hold yourself accountable over

time for driving the changes you want to see

Next take a hard look at the demographics of your team Determine

the following

bull Which demographic groups ndash including but not limited to

gender raceethnicity sexual orientation industry experience

seniority education socioeconomic status and ability status ndash

are represented

bull Which groups are you lacking or are underrepresented

bull Look for patterns in the profiles of the people yoursquove hired up to

now ndash do they imply an inclination toward a certain personality

type background set of qualifications or even raceethnicity

bull If so how are you justifying that

Great leaders lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 23

bull Could you inadvertently be screening for privilege (think

preferred schools or degrees) rather than for ability and

potential

Have the conversation

Itrsquos time to invite your team into the conversation This can be the

uncomfortable part especially if yoursquore in an environment that

doesnrsquot have a precedent for such dialogues Actively sharing why

yoursquore prioritizing DEampI will signal its importance to your team help

address any discrepancies and start building the muscle for healthy

conversations on topics like race Yoursquoll also drive new awareness

and behaviors that can have outsized impacts on who you hire by

influencing your interview panels to be more open-minded and provide

better interviewing experiences to underrepresented candidates

Finally collaborate with your people operations or HR team to review

current department demographics based on self-reported employee

data This will lead to informed discussions about which groups to

focus on when diversifying hiring pipelines which ties back to your

goals around having better representation among your employees

Write your job descriptionsjob posts through an inclusive lens

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader

is a job description for a role on your team Itrsquos the first touchpoint

candidates have with your team and it directly impacts who does ndash

and doesnrsquot ndash engage in your interview process

Here are tips on how to make your job descriptions more inclusive ndash

and more attractive to the candidates yoursquore targeting

Identify and rework inherently biased language

Countless job descriptions contain language that is gendered which

can skew your talent pool before you even interact with candidates

Platforms like Textio leverage artificial intelligence to help remove

gender bias business jargon and other phrases that reinforce

stereotypes in written content

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader is a job description for a role on your team

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 24

Describe goals and growth opportunities

Focus on describing the exciting goals and clear objectives of the

job rather than listing day-to-day responsibilities that arenrsquot tied to

outcomes This will not only inspire candidates it will also help them

decide if what theyrsquoll own and learn in your job is aligned with their

career goals

Examples of unintentionally biased language

Masculine-tone

Exhaustive

Enforcement

Fearless

Feminine-tone

Transparent

Catalyst

In touch with

Textio writes ldquoA language pattern is considered gendered if it

statistically changes the proportion of men and women who respond

to a job post containing itrdquo Their research reveals that in jobs where

a man is hired the original job post averages almost twice as many

masculine-tone phrases as feminine In jobs where a woman is hired

Textio finds the exact opposite there are twice as many feminine-tone

phrases as masculine in the job post Here are a few common phrases

that exert this type of bias effect

bull What are the goals and outcomes you want this person to achieve

bull What are the success metrics being tracked and the desired outcomes

bull What does growth look like on your team when someone delivers

quarter over quarter

bull Who will this person be actively collaborating with

Questions to answer in your job description

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 25

Focus on skills over requirements

Carefully consider each requirement yoursquore adding to your job

description Can you shift your focus away from a specific number

of years of work experience or required degrees and move toward

a candidatersquos abilities Could you take it a step further and include

verbiage that encourages candidates to apply even if they might not

have all the necessary qualifications

Get other opinions

Continue to iterate and socialize your job description Share it with

someone whorsquos currently in the role or someone who represents an

underrepresented demographic group to learn if there are better ways to

position the content Incorporating feedback from different perspectives

is key to eliminating unintentional biases in the language

Use structured hiring to mitigate unconscious bias

Now that yoursquove communicated your focus on diversity and published

an inclusive job description you might think most of your work is

behind you After all isnrsquot the process mostly in your recruiterrsquos hands

from here Not just yet Once you have candidates entering your hiring

pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices

will really be put to the test

Consider adding an inclusivity statement

Is your job description unintentionally scaring candidates away

Research shows that women tend to only apply for jobs when they meet

100 of the requirements One way to encourage candidates from

diverse backgrounds to apply is by adding an inclusivity statement to

your list of qualifications Jobs are filled 6 faster when the description

includes an inclusion message or EEO statement Herersquos the Greenhouse

version (itrsquos the last item in the list of qualifications) ldquoYour own unique

talents If you donrsquot meet 100 of the qualifications outlined above tell

us why yoursquod be a great fit for this role in your cover letterrdquo

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 26

Here are a few important things to keep in mind to stay accountable to

your commitment to DEampI

Screen in over screening out

When reviewing resumes use the framework of screening in rather

than screening out While certain jobs will have hard requirements ndash an

engineer might need fluency in a certain coding language to perform in

their job ndash many employers are placing less emphasis on a strict set of

resume qualifications when determining who to move to the next stage

and thinking about how they can invest in training people who have

potential but donrsquot have specific qualifications

When conducting interviews many hiring managers get

understandably nervous when considering candidates from

backgrounds that are not currently represented on their team That

behavior is often grounded in similar-to-me bias and perpetuates

homogeneity Pay close attention to how you and your interviewers

react to historically underrepresented candidates and actively exercise

open-mindedness Your best hire may be the person who is different

from everyone else your team has hired in the past

Use the same criteria

To create an even playing field assess all candidates against the same

hiring criteria that yoursquove determined is necessary for the role which

is the core of structured hiring Similarly make sure each candidate is

answering the same interview questions from your interviewers This

allows your interviewers not only to focus on relevant areas to assess

but also to compare candidates in a data-driven and fair way in the

event yoursquore choosing between several finalists

Diversify your panel

Finally consider your interview panel Which demographic groups are

represented and which are not represented Do you have a panel of all

men Of all the same ethnicity or race Of all millennials If the answer

is yes to any of these scenarios how are you planning to address this

elephant in the room with candidates who identify differently Put

yourself in their shoes and be prepared to clearly explain why creating

a more diverse team is a priority for you

Once you have candidates entering your hiring pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices will really be put to the test

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 27

Measure wins by progress and improvements

If you donrsquot already have an extensive DEampI program at your

organization figuring out where to start can be challenging Who we

are informs everything we do ndash who we hire what we observe where

we live how we communicate ndash and it can be tough to know where to

focus when checking our own potential biases However starting with a

deep reflection of your hiring process is a way to take ownership of your

responsibility as a business leader to prioritize DEampI Your commitment

may not produce immediate results since company demographics

arenrsquot something that can change overnight but your efforts will drive

meaningful and positive change in the long run with respect to who you

hire and advocate for in your company

Own your influence As a leader you have the ability to influence others through your words

and actions Consider the ways you can demonstrate your commitment

to DEampI Here are some ideas to get you started

bull Sponsor an employee resource group and commit to helping

them achieve their goals

bull Attend diversity sourcing events and invite coworkers to join you

bull Refer candidates from overlookedunderrepresented groups to

open roles throughout your organization

bull Look for local organizations you can partner with ndash perhaps

you can sponsor a hackathon offer an internship or otherwise

support their mission

bull Ask for feedback and suggestions ndash your team might already

have some great ideas about how to prioritize DEampI

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 28

Part 5 For everyone

Creating an inclusive candidate experience to build stronger more diverse teamsEvery person in your company ndash regardless of their job title ndash can

contribute to inclusive hiring Whether theyrsquore making referrals

interviewing candidates or talking to prospects their actions can

have an impact on candidate experience Thatrsquos why itrsquos essential

to be intentional about the role everyone plays

Here are a few ways to create an inclusive candidate experience

Structured hiring

Structured hiring is an approach where selection decisions are

based on evidence not emotion Leaders align the role to a business

objective and build a rigorous and objective interview process

through conversations assignments and the like that can be used to

predict job performance Candidates are asked consistent questions

that connect back to specific attributes required for the role and

interviewers evaluate responses against a defined rating system in

the interview scorecard

In previous sections we covered how hiring managers and recruiters

can partner to implement structured hiring Remember that rolling

it out to your entire company will take time and effort Everyone

involved in the interview process will need to be trained on things

like how to conduct interviews take notes and score candidates

Consider integrating this training into new hire onboarding team

offsites or manager professional development to ensure everyone

stays up to date

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 29

Defining and hiring for culture add

Over the past several years wersquove seen companies move away

from assessing candidates on their ldquoculture fitrdquo because this term

can lead to homogeneous hiring But many companies still want

a way to determine whether candidates are aligned with their values

This is where ldquoculture addrdquo or values interviews can come into play

Culture-add interviews also give candidates the chance to meet

people from other teams and departments to get a broader sense of

your company culture

If culture-add interviews are part of your hiring process (or you want

them to be) yoursquoll want to consider the following

bull Who conducts culture-add interviews What is the selection

process like for identifying these interviewers within your

company and training them

bull Which questions does the culture-add interview cover How do

you define great acceptable and unacceptable answers

bull How often will you revisit and update this process

Hiring Maturity success story Neil Casey ThoughtWorks

In this limited podcast

series Greenhouse

President and Co-

founder Jon Stross sat

down with talent leaders

from leading companies

to discuss their Hiring

Maturity journeys Listen

in as Jon invites Neil

Casey Global Head of

Sourcing and Strategic

Hiring at ThoughtWorks

to discuss building an

inclusive hiring process

at scale

Explore the Greenhouse DEampI feature set

Take structured interviewing to the next level with solutions that enable

recruiters interviewers and hiring managers to operationalize and

scale fairer hiring practices Herersquos a brief overview of the Greenhouse

DEampI feature set

Data collection and reporting ndash Track self-reported applicant

demographic data throughout the hiring funnel (from sourcing

to offer) and measure pass-throughdrop-off rates

In-the-moment interventions ndash Reminders that nudge users to

slow down and avoid instinctive mental shortcuts that arenrsquot

rooted in evidence or tied to job-relevant criteria

Structured decision-making ndash Added guardrails that support

a more objective selection process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 30

Encouraging an inclusive approach to employee referrals

Employee referrals are a great way to get everyone involved in the

hiring process Itrsquos exciting to have a hand in shaping the future of your

company while helping someone in your network land their next role

But certain groups tend to benefit from referrals more than others

which can lead to more homogeneity

The good news is that referrals donrsquot automatically lead to

homogeneous hires according to research by DEampI consultancy

Paradigm They partnered with Pinterest to determine why employee

referrals tend to be homogenous Is it because peoplersquos networks

are truly that homogenous or is it due to pattern-matching bias

(employees are looking around at their coworkers and only thinking

of people who are similar to the existing team) Paradigm found that

when a leader asked employees to be more mindful about diversity

when offering referrals especially people of color and women it made

a tangible impact over the following six weeks So be sure to encourage

employees to consider diversity when making referrals

DonorsChoose takes a data-driven approach to DEampI in their hiring

DonorsChoosersquos challenge Develop a hiring process that aligns with

the organizationrsquos commitment to DEampI in their work in education

DonorsChoose has a high standard for their DEampI hiring efforts and

wanted to intentionally drive a more diverse candidate pool To do so

they had to prioritize gathering better data on diversity in their hiring

pools Without that data conversations between the People and Talent

team and hiring managers felt uninformed and ineffective

DonorsChoose wanted data at their fingertips to drive their DEampI

hiring efforts The Greenhouse DEampI feature set offered them a robust

set of tools Since turning on custom demographic reporting the

DonorsChoose team has seen an improvement and recognized that

now 58 of the candidates who have made it to the face-to-face

interview stage at DonorsChoose have identified as people of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 31

ConclusionWe recommend sitting with these strategies for a few days rather than

immediately jumping into action Take time to reflect on your next

steps and collaborate with your internal partners in order to create the

optimal DEampI hiring strategy for your company

Remember that when it comes to DEampI therersquos no ldquoend staterdquo to arrive

at Wersquore all on the same journey of curiosity listening progress and

discovery

If yoursquod like to do further reading or research on any of the topics we

covered wersquove curated a list of recommended reading for you

We are your partners and allies and stand beside you in this work and

will help you as best we can All of us at Greenhouse are committed to

bringing about lasting change and we will be your partner in creating

a more equitable hiring process so you can build more inclusive

stronger teams

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 32

Recommended reading

DEampI strategy Creating an Effective Diversity and Inclusion

Program

DEampI strategy Hiring Diverse Candidates is Not Enough ndash

Itrsquos About Keeping Them

DEampI strategy Toward a Racially Just Workplace

DEampI strategy Why So Many Organizations Stay White

DEampI strategy Do Your DampI Efforts Include People with

Disabilities

Hiring If Therersquos Only One Woman in Your Candidate

Pool Therersquos Statisically No Chance Shersquoll Be

Hired

Hiring A Data-Driven Approach to Hiring More

Diverse Talent

Hiring How to Alter Your Hiring Practices to Increase

Diversity

Hiring Research How Speech Patterns Lead to

Hiring Bias

Intersectionality Do Your Diversity Efforts Reflect the

Experiences of Women of Color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 33

Recommended reading (continued)

Sourcing Could This Be The Secret To Hiring More

Women And People Of Color

Sourcing Diversity Sourcing Strategy 3 LinkedIn

Search Tips from Boolean Master Glen

Cathey

Sourcing How to increase workplace diversity with

employee referrals

Unconscious bias Managing Unconscious Bias Strategies to

Manage Bias amp Build More Diverse Inclusive

Organizations

Unconscious bias 50 Ways to Fight Bias

Unconscious bias 12 Unconscious Bias Examples and How to

Avoid Them in the Workplace

Unconscious bias Harvard Project Implicit Association Tests

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 34

Greenhouse is the hiring software company

We help businesses be great at hiring through

our powerful hiring approach complete suite of

software and services and large partner ecosystem ndash

so businesses can hire for whatrsquos next

To learn more visit

greenhouseio

Page 17: eBook Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company

bull Jargon and superficial language in job posts can

discourage women from applying and perpetuate inequality

bull Over-indexing on referrals from a homogenous workforce

(typically with less-diverse networks) can close the door for

people of color and women

bull Measuring talent through academic or employer history (both

have low predictive validity on job performance) limits access

for candidates excluded from those networks

bull People of color and women are more likely to receive offers if

another finalist shares their identity

bull Low-diversity interview teams may signal larger issues for

candidates from underrepresented groups

bull Resumes with more ldquowhite-soundingrdquo names are more likely to

be advanced in the hiring process

bull Candidates are often evaluated on their perceived ease in

assimilating or fitting into the culture rather than their capacity

to perform in the role and add to the companyrsquos culture

bull Traditional unstructured interviews are highly vulnerable to

bias ndash without consistent criteria or rubrics poorly trained

interviewers make impulse-driven decisions when evaluating

candidates

bull Interview notes are often scant high-inference or based on

likability rather than objective with examples that validate

advancement or rejection

bull Gender pay gaps persist in part because women fear reprisal for

initiating salary negotiation (from other women and men) and

compensation disparities are even wider for women of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 17

Addressing biased behaviors

Bias is a mental algorithm that can be disrupted through conscious

behavior change Effective and inclusive hiring isnrsquot so much a skill as

it is a collection of habits that can enable more inclusive outcomes and

change company cultures

Here are some practical steps you can take and tools to try out based

on the observations you noted earlier Wersquove divided these tips by

pipeline stage (sourcing screening selecting and hiring)

Sourcing

bull Clarify the attributes yoursquore looking for (capabilities performance

objectives etc) during your kickoff meeting using a structured

hiring template

bull Consider partnering with text-augmenting software like Textio

TapRecruit or Gender Decoder to expose and change the words

that may disrupt diversity at the top of your funnel

bull Solicit referrals for underrepresented talent (with added financial

incentive if possible) as an important DEampI initiative that can

also lead to greater retention and lower reports of workplace

inequity

bull The recruiting platform Gem recommends using diversity salient

strategies like targeting talent from bootcamps or affinity-based

organizations like TransTech Social and the National Society of

Black Engineers

bull Audit your job posts to determine which requirements are

essential and which are extraneous remove jargon and focus on

producing (and disseminating) content that appeals to the widest

net possible

bull Use Boolean searches in LinkedIn to find overlooked talent

by searching for alumni of colleges with high diversity indices

or affinity-based organizations like fraternities sororities and

cultural interest groups

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 18

A simple structured hiring template

Want to add more structure

to your hiring process

Here are a few questions

and points to consider next

time you open a new role

Who are you trying to hire

bull Role name

bull Department

bull Who will this person report to

bull What business objectives are you trying to meet with this role

How will you evaluate the candidate

bull Skills

bull Personality traits

bull Qualifications

What will the interview process look like

bull Define the interview stages (application review phone screen

hiring manager interview etc)

bull Decide which qualities will be assessed in each stage

bull Plan out the questions or assessments for each quality

Screening

bull Based on your structured hiring template design an effective

scorecard and create clear evaluation criteria that your

interviewers can discuss in their roundups to make informed

objective decisions when assessing candidates (see page 21 for

a quick introduction to scorecards)

bull Ensure your focus attributes are specific measurable attainable

and relevant to the role(s) yoursquore recruiting for

bull Consider integrating your companyrsquos performance management

competencies (if possible) when determining focus attributes if

you have difficulty developing new ones

bull Using the performance outcomes for the role develop a bank

of behavioral and situational interview questions that match the

complexity of the role

bull Define the range of answers for your questions from exemplary

to unacceptable and train your interviewers on how to document

their feedback in the scorecard

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 19

bull Mitigate opportunities for late-stage interviewers to be

influencedbiased by previously submitted scorecards

bull Train members of employee resource groups (ERGs) to

participate as interviewers to ensure a balance of perspectives

bull Evaluate whether leveraging skills-based hiring makes sense for

your company

bull Work samples or assessments have the highest predictive

validity for job performance and grading them anonymously can

help mitigate bias

Selecting

bull Assessments like Predictive Index can help you identify

candidates who can balance out your team

bull Establish clear consistent candidate evaluation criteria for your

interviewers to adhere to as a part of a structured hiring process

bull Train your interviewers with proper interview prep material use

focus attributes to eliminate redundancy and require detailed

low-inference and objective interview notes for every attribute

assessed

bull Review all interview feedback ask probing questions about

vague or inferential comments and encourage interviewers to

anchor their decisions in the key takeaways of your interview

rubric

Hiring

bull Audit your compensation structure to ensure that salaries are at

market rate and determine your thresholds for salary negotiation

regardless of the candidate

bull Be transparent about your compensation philosophy and

consider not allowing anyone to negotiate compensation to

drive pay equity

bull Review comments from candidate surveys to measure candidate

experience and leverage the data to make iterations where

necessary throughout your process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 20

Creating attributes

Aim for at least 3ndash6 mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive

focus attributes per category for your scorecards Consider integrating

the SMART (Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-based)

framework to ensure your interviewers are enabled to measure what

matters

Building interview questions

Collaborate with hiring managers to design custom interview questions

for each attribute deemed necessary for success in the role Aligning

these questions to your scorecard focus attributes enables your

interviewers to make informed decisions that can more accurately

predict job performance

Establishing a decision-making framework

After developing your focus attributes and interview questions be sure

to define evaluation expectations for interview teams Ideally each

attribute-aligned question will include a specific rubric that outlines what

interviewers should look for in candidate answers and assessments

You can adapt this scorecard rating system to suit your company

Scorecard essentials for everyone

Scorecards are

fundamental to structured

hiring Consistent

candidate evaluation helps

mitigate interviewer bias

reduce total interview time

and drive a more evidence-

based decision framework

for selecting the right

talent

Herersquos a high-level

overview of scorecard

essentials

Strong yes is an exemplary response that clearly addresses each

element of the question with distinct examples (if appropriate)

Yes is a solid acceptable response that addresses most or all elements

of the question with clear examples

Mixed is an inconclusive response that may partially address the

question but does not provide the interviewer with evidence about the

candidatersquos capabilities A mixed rating does not equate to ldquoI donrsquot

knowrdquo ndash when an interviewer doesnrsquot have enough evidence they

should leave the attribute blank

No is an unacceptable response that ignores most or multiple

elements of the question

Strong no is an extremely unacceptable answer that doesnrsquot address

the question at all andor contains a comment that conflicts with your

companyrsquos culture Beyond that answers may blatantly disparage

others former employers communities etc

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 21

Part 4 For business leaders

Prioritizing DEampIForward-thinking business leaders (like you) are actively focused on

elevating their DEampI practices ndash not only to ensure that their teams

accurately reflect the demographics of their local population but also

to create a work environment that offers equitable opportunities where

people of all identities can thrive

Traditionally business leaders have looked to recruiting teams to

shoulder the work of diversifying the candidates moving through their

hiring pipelines However great business leaders understand that DEampI

is a company-wide commitment starting from the top ndash at Greenhouse

we call this the Talent Maker mindset

In a world where 57 of employees believe their companies should

improve diversity among their internal workforce and 86 of job

seekers actively seek out companies with diverse employee bases

proactively building inclusive hiring practices to allow for a better

diversity of hires isnrsquot just the right thing to do ndash itrsquos the smart thing

to do

McKinsey found that companies in the top quartile for racialethnic and

gender diversity were respectively 35 and 15 more likely to have

financial returns above the national median for their particular industry

That means being great at hiring today is about a lot more than how

quickly you make a hire Itrsquos also about exercising inclusive hiring

practices and having diversity on both sides of the interview process

among your interviewers and your candidates Itrsquos about business

leaders getting involved with DEampI to generate meaningful outcomes

No matter how valiantly a recruiter works to fill the top of a recruiting

funnel with underrepresented candidates if hiring managers donrsquot

similarly prioritize inclusive hiring those candidates will inevitably

leave the funnel ndash whether by choice or through the adverse impact of

unconscious bias

Letrsquos explore some of the ways that Talent Makers can boost DEampI in

their hiring strategies

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 22

Before focusing externally look internally at your own company

Diversifying your team isnrsquot only about bringing in a new hire who can

add a new perspective Itrsquos just as much about creating an environment

that allows that new hire to share their perspective and feel heard

Some leaders may skirt conversations around identity ndash by claiming to

be ldquocolorblindrdquo when it comes to race for example ndash but great leaders

lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each

employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

Ask questions

What does all this mean through the lens of hiring As you start

thinking about how to source underrepresented candidates answer

these questions

bull Why would a candidate from an underrepresented group want to

join your team

bull How would you articulate your commitment to supporting and

advocating for them as a manager

bull If you were releasing a public statement or articulating your

companyrsquos commitment to equity in response toin solidarity

with a societal movement how would you differentiate your

company from other organizations in a way thatrsquos authentic

bull More importantly how will you hold yourself accountable over

time for driving the changes you want to see

Next take a hard look at the demographics of your team Determine

the following

bull Which demographic groups ndash including but not limited to

gender raceethnicity sexual orientation industry experience

seniority education socioeconomic status and ability status ndash

are represented

bull Which groups are you lacking or are underrepresented

bull Look for patterns in the profiles of the people yoursquove hired up to

now ndash do they imply an inclination toward a certain personality

type background set of qualifications or even raceethnicity

bull If so how are you justifying that

Great leaders lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 23

bull Could you inadvertently be screening for privilege (think

preferred schools or degrees) rather than for ability and

potential

Have the conversation

Itrsquos time to invite your team into the conversation This can be the

uncomfortable part especially if yoursquore in an environment that

doesnrsquot have a precedent for such dialogues Actively sharing why

yoursquore prioritizing DEampI will signal its importance to your team help

address any discrepancies and start building the muscle for healthy

conversations on topics like race Yoursquoll also drive new awareness

and behaviors that can have outsized impacts on who you hire by

influencing your interview panels to be more open-minded and provide

better interviewing experiences to underrepresented candidates

Finally collaborate with your people operations or HR team to review

current department demographics based on self-reported employee

data This will lead to informed discussions about which groups to

focus on when diversifying hiring pipelines which ties back to your

goals around having better representation among your employees

Write your job descriptionsjob posts through an inclusive lens

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader

is a job description for a role on your team Itrsquos the first touchpoint

candidates have with your team and it directly impacts who does ndash

and doesnrsquot ndash engage in your interview process

Here are tips on how to make your job descriptions more inclusive ndash

and more attractive to the candidates yoursquore targeting

Identify and rework inherently biased language

Countless job descriptions contain language that is gendered which

can skew your talent pool before you even interact with candidates

Platforms like Textio leverage artificial intelligence to help remove

gender bias business jargon and other phrases that reinforce

stereotypes in written content

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader is a job description for a role on your team

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 24

Describe goals and growth opportunities

Focus on describing the exciting goals and clear objectives of the

job rather than listing day-to-day responsibilities that arenrsquot tied to

outcomes This will not only inspire candidates it will also help them

decide if what theyrsquoll own and learn in your job is aligned with their

career goals

Examples of unintentionally biased language

Masculine-tone

Exhaustive

Enforcement

Fearless

Feminine-tone

Transparent

Catalyst

In touch with

Textio writes ldquoA language pattern is considered gendered if it

statistically changes the proportion of men and women who respond

to a job post containing itrdquo Their research reveals that in jobs where

a man is hired the original job post averages almost twice as many

masculine-tone phrases as feminine In jobs where a woman is hired

Textio finds the exact opposite there are twice as many feminine-tone

phrases as masculine in the job post Here are a few common phrases

that exert this type of bias effect

bull What are the goals and outcomes you want this person to achieve

bull What are the success metrics being tracked and the desired outcomes

bull What does growth look like on your team when someone delivers

quarter over quarter

bull Who will this person be actively collaborating with

Questions to answer in your job description

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 25

Focus on skills over requirements

Carefully consider each requirement yoursquore adding to your job

description Can you shift your focus away from a specific number

of years of work experience or required degrees and move toward

a candidatersquos abilities Could you take it a step further and include

verbiage that encourages candidates to apply even if they might not

have all the necessary qualifications

Get other opinions

Continue to iterate and socialize your job description Share it with

someone whorsquos currently in the role or someone who represents an

underrepresented demographic group to learn if there are better ways to

position the content Incorporating feedback from different perspectives

is key to eliminating unintentional biases in the language

Use structured hiring to mitigate unconscious bias

Now that yoursquove communicated your focus on diversity and published

an inclusive job description you might think most of your work is

behind you After all isnrsquot the process mostly in your recruiterrsquos hands

from here Not just yet Once you have candidates entering your hiring

pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices

will really be put to the test

Consider adding an inclusivity statement

Is your job description unintentionally scaring candidates away

Research shows that women tend to only apply for jobs when they meet

100 of the requirements One way to encourage candidates from

diverse backgrounds to apply is by adding an inclusivity statement to

your list of qualifications Jobs are filled 6 faster when the description

includes an inclusion message or EEO statement Herersquos the Greenhouse

version (itrsquos the last item in the list of qualifications) ldquoYour own unique

talents If you donrsquot meet 100 of the qualifications outlined above tell

us why yoursquod be a great fit for this role in your cover letterrdquo

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 26

Here are a few important things to keep in mind to stay accountable to

your commitment to DEampI

Screen in over screening out

When reviewing resumes use the framework of screening in rather

than screening out While certain jobs will have hard requirements ndash an

engineer might need fluency in a certain coding language to perform in

their job ndash many employers are placing less emphasis on a strict set of

resume qualifications when determining who to move to the next stage

and thinking about how they can invest in training people who have

potential but donrsquot have specific qualifications

When conducting interviews many hiring managers get

understandably nervous when considering candidates from

backgrounds that are not currently represented on their team That

behavior is often grounded in similar-to-me bias and perpetuates

homogeneity Pay close attention to how you and your interviewers

react to historically underrepresented candidates and actively exercise

open-mindedness Your best hire may be the person who is different

from everyone else your team has hired in the past

Use the same criteria

To create an even playing field assess all candidates against the same

hiring criteria that yoursquove determined is necessary for the role which

is the core of structured hiring Similarly make sure each candidate is

answering the same interview questions from your interviewers This

allows your interviewers not only to focus on relevant areas to assess

but also to compare candidates in a data-driven and fair way in the

event yoursquore choosing between several finalists

Diversify your panel

Finally consider your interview panel Which demographic groups are

represented and which are not represented Do you have a panel of all

men Of all the same ethnicity or race Of all millennials If the answer

is yes to any of these scenarios how are you planning to address this

elephant in the room with candidates who identify differently Put

yourself in their shoes and be prepared to clearly explain why creating

a more diverse team is a priority for you

Once you have candidates entering your hiring pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices will really be put to the test

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 27

Measure wins by progress and improvements

If you donrsquot already have an extensive DEampI program at your

organization figuring out where to start can be challenging Who we

are informs everything we do ndash who we hire what we observe where

we live how we communicate ndash and it can be tough to know where to

focus when checking our own potential biases However starting with a

deep reflection of your hiring process is a way to take ownership of your

responsibility as a business leader to prioritize DEampI Your commitment

may not produce immediate results since company demographics

arenrsquot something that can change overnight but your efforts will drive

meaningful and positive change in the long run with respect to who you

hire and advocate for in your company

Own your influence As a leader you have the ability to influence others through your words

and actions Consider the ways you can demonstrate your commitment

to DEampI Here are some ideas to get you started

bull Sponsor an employee resource group and commit to helping

them achieve their goals

bull Attend diversity sourcing events and invite coworkers to join you

bull Refer candidates from overlookedunderrepresented groups to

open roles throughout your organization

bull Look for local organizations you can partner with ndash perhaps

you can sponsor a hackathon offer an internship or otherwise

support their mission

bull Ask for feedback and suggestions ndash your team might already

have some great ideas about how to prioritize DEampI

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 28

Part 5 For everyone

Creating an inclusive candidate experience to build stronger more diverse teamsEvery person in your company ndash regardless of their job title ndash can

contribute to inclusive hiring Whether theyrsquore making referrals

interviewing candidates or talking to prospects their actions can

have an impact on candidate experience Thatrsquos why itrsquos essential

to be intentional about the role everyone plays

Here are a few ways to create an inclusive candidate experience

Structured hiring

Structured hiring is an approach where selection decisions are

based on evidence not emotion Leaders align the role to a business

objective and build a rigorous and objective interview process

through conversations assignments and the like that can be used to

predict job performance Candidates are asked consistent questions

that connect back to specific attributes required for the role and

interviewers evaluate responses against a defined rating system in

the interview scorecard

In previous sections we covered how hiring managers and recruiters

can partner to implement structured hiring Remember that rolling

it out to your entire company will take time and effort Everyone

involved in the interview process will need to be trained on things

like how to conduct interviews take notes and score candidates

Consider integrating this training into new hire onboarding team

offsites or manager professional development to ensure everyone

stays up to date

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 29

Defining and hiring for culture add

Over the past several years wersquove seen companies move away

from assessing candidates on their ldquoculture fitrdquo because this term

can lead to homogeneous hiring But many companies still want

a way to determine whether candidates are aligned with their values

This is where ldquoculture addrdquo or values interviews can come into play

Culture-add interviews also give candidates the chance to meet

people from other teams and departments to get a broader sense of

your company culture

If culture-add interviews are part of your hiring process (or you want

them to be) yoursquoll want to consider the following

bull Who conducts culture-add interviews What is the selection

process like for identifying these interviewers within your

company and training them

bull Which questions does the culture-add interview cover How do

you define great acceptable and unacceptable answers

bull How often will you revisit and update this process

Hiring Maturity success story Neil Casey ThoughtWorks

In this limited podcast

series Greenhouse

President and Co-

founder Jon Stross sat

down with talent leaders

from leading companies

to discuss their Hiring

Maturity journeys Listen

in as Jon invites Neil

Casey Global Head of

Sourcing and Strategic

Hiring at ThoughtWorks

to discuss building an

inclusive hiring process

at scale

Explore the Greenhouse DEampI feature set

Take structured interviewing to the next level with solutions that enable

recruiters interviewers and hiring managers to operationalize and

scale fairer hiring practices Herersquos a brief overview of the Greenhouse

DEampI feature set

Data collection and reporting ndash Track self-reported applicant

demographic data throughout the hiring funnel (from sourcing

to offer) and measure pass-throughdrop-off rates

In-the-moment interventions ndash Reminders that nudge users to

slow down and avoid instinctive mental shortcuts that arenrsquot

rooted in evidence or tied to job-relevant criteria

Structured decision-making ndash Added guardrails that support

a more objective selection process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 30

Encouraging an inclusive approach to employee referrals

Employee referrals are a great way to get everyone involved in the

hiring process Itrsquos exciting to have a hand in shaping the future of your

company while helping someone in your network land their next role

But certain groups tend to benefit from referrals more than others

which can lead to more homogeneity

The good news is that referrals donrsquot automatically lead to

homogeneous hires according to research by DEampI consultancy

Paradigm They partnered with Pinterest to determine why employee

referrals tend to be homogenous Is it because peoplersquos networks

are truly that homogenous or is it due to pattern-matching bias

(employees are looking around at their coworkers and only thinking

of people who are similar to the existing team) Paradigm found that

when a leader asked employees to be more mindful about diversity

when offering referrals especially people of color and women it made

a tangible impact over the following six weeks So be sure to encourage

employees to consider diversity when making referrals

DonorsChoose takes a data-driven approach to DEampI in their hiring

DonorsChoosersquos challenge Develop a hiring process that aligns with

the organizationrsquos commitment to DEampI in their work in education

DonorsChoose has a high standard for their DEampI hiring efforts and

wanted to intentionally drive a more diverse candidate pool To do so

they had to prioritize gathering better data on diversity in their hiring

pools Without that data conversations between the People and Talent

team and hiring managers felt uninformed and ineffective

DonorsChoose wanted data at their fingertips to drive their DEampI

hiring efforts The Greenhouse DEampI feature set offered them a robust

set of tools Since turning on custom demographic reporting the

DonorsChoose team has seen an improvement and recognized that

now 58 of the candidates who have made it to the face-to-face

interview stage at DonorsChoose have identified as people of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 31

ConclusionWe recommend sitting with these strategies for a few days rather than

immediately jumping into action Take time to reflect on your next

steps and collaborate with your internal partners in order to create the

optimal DEampI hiring strategy for your company

Remember that when it comes to DEampI therersquos no ldquoend staterdquo to arrive

at Wersquore all on the same journey of curiosity listening progress and

discovery

If yoursquod like to do further reading or research on any of the topics we

covered wersquove curated a list of recommended reading for you

We are your partners and allies and stand beside you in this work and

will help you as best we can All of us at Greenhouse are committed to

bringing about lasting change and we will be your partner in creating

a more equitable hiring process so you can build more inclusive

stronger teams

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 32

Recommended reading

DEampI strategy Creating an Effective Diversity and Inclusion

Program

DEampI strategy Hiring Diverse Candidates is Not Enough ndash

Itrsquos About Keeping Them

DEampI strategy Toward a Racially Just Workplace

DEampI strategy Why So Many Organizations Stay White

DEampI strategy Do Your DampI Efforts Include People with

Disabilities

Hiring If Therersquos Only One Woman in Your Candidate

Pool Therersquos Statisically No Chance Shersquoll Be

Hired

Hiring A Data-Driven Approach to Hiring More

Diverse Talent

Hiring How to Alter Your Hiring Practices to Increase

Diversity

Hiring Research How Speech Patterns Lead to

Hiring Bias

Intersectionality Do Your Diversity Efforts Reflect the

Experiences of Women of Color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 33

Recommended reading (continued)

Sourcing Could This Be The Secret To Hiring More

Women And People Of Color

Sourcing Diversity Sourcing Strategy 3 LinkedIn

Search Tips from Boolean Master Glen

Cathey

Sourcing How to increase workplace diversity with

employee referrals

Unconscious bias Managing Unconscious Bias Strategies to

Manage Bias amp Build More Diverse Inclusive

Organizations

Unconscious bias 50 Ways to Fight Bias

Unconscious bias 12 Unconscious Bias Examples and How to

Avoid Them in the Workplace

Unconscious bias Harvard Project Implicit Association Tests

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 34

Greenhouse is the hiring software company

We help businesses be great at hiring through

our powerful hiring approach complete suite of

software and services and large partner ecosystem ndash

so businesses can hire for whatrsquos next

To learn more visit

greenhouseio

Page 18: eBook Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company

Addressing biased behaviors

Bias is a mental algorithm that can be disrupted through conscious

behavior change Effective and inclusive hiring isnrsquot so much a skill as

it is a collection of habits that can enable more inclusive outcomes and

change company cultures

Here are some practical steps you can take and tools to try out based

on the observations you noted earlier Wersquove divided these tips by

pipeline stage (sourcing screening selecting and hiring)

Sourcing

bull Clarify the attributes yoursquore looking for (capabilities performance

objectives etc) during your kickoff meeting using a structured

hiring template

bull Consider partnering with text-augmenting software like Textio

TapRecruit or Gender Decoder to expose and change the words

that may disrupt diversity at the top of your funnel

bull Solicit referrals for underrepresented talent (with added financial

incentive if possible) as an important DEampI initiative that can

also lead to greater retention and lower reports of workplace

inequity

bull The recruiting platform Gem recommends using diversity salient

strategies like targeting talent from bootcamps or affinity-based

organizations like TransTech Social and the National Society of

Black Engineers

bull Audit your job posts to determine which requirements are

essential and which are extraneous remove jargon and focus on

producing (and disseminating) content that appeals to the widest

net possible

bull Use Boolean searches in LinkedIn to find overlooked talent

by searching for alumni of colleges with high diversity indices

or affinity-based organizations like fraternities sororities and

cultural interest groups

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 18

A simple structured hiring template

Want to add more structure

to your hiring process

Here are a few questions

and points to consider next

time you open a new role

Who are you trying to hire

bull Role name

bull Department

bull Who will this person report to

bull What business objectives are you trying to meet with this role

How will you evaluate the candidate

bull Skills

bull Personality traits

bull Qualifications

What will the interview process look like

bull Define the interview stages (application review phone screen

hiring manager interview etc)

bull Decide which qualities will be assessed in each stage

bull Plan out the questions or assessments for each quality

Screening

bull Based on your structured hiring template design an effective

scorecard and create clear evaluation criteria that your

interviewers can discuss in their roundups to make informed

objective decisions when assessing candidates (see page 21 for

a quick introduction to scorecards)

bull Ensure your focus attributes are specific measurable attainable

and relevant to the role(s) yoursquore recruiting for

bull Consider integrating your companyrsquos performance management

competencies (if possible) when determining focus attributes if

you have difficulty developing new ones

bull Using the performance outcomes for the role develop a bank

of behavioral and situational interview questions that match the

complexity of the role

bull Define the range of answers for your questions from exemplary

to unacceptable and train your interviewers on how to document

their feedback in the scorecard

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 19

bull Mitigate opportunities for late-stage interviewers to be

influencedbiased by previously submitted scorecards

bull Train members of employee resource groups (ERGs) to

participate as interviewers to ensure a balance of perspectives

bull Evaluate whether leveraging skills-based hiring makes sense for

your company

bull Work samples or assessments have the highest predictive

validity for job performance and grading them anonymously can

help mitigate bias

Selecting

bull Assessments like Predictive Index can help you identify

candidates who can balance out your team

bull Establish clear consistent candidate evaluation criteria for your

interviewers to adhere to as a part of a structured hiring process

bull Train your interviewers with proper interview prep material use

focus attributes to eliminate redundancy and require detailed

low-inference and objective interview notes for every attribute

assessed

bull Review all interview feedback ask probing questions about

vague or inferential comments and encourage interviewers to

anchor their decisions in the key takeaways of your interview

rubric

Hiring

bull Audit your compensation structure to ensure that salaries are at

market rate and determine your thresholds for salary negotiation

regardless of the candidate

bull Be transparent about your compensation philosophy and

consider not allowing anyone to negotiate compensation to

drive pay equity

bull Review comments from candidate surveys to measure candidate

experience and leverage the data to make iterations where

necessary throughout your process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 20

Creating attributes

Aim for at least 3ndash6 mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive

focus attributes per category for your scorecards Consider integrating

the SMART (Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-based)

framework to ensure your interviewers are enabled to measure what

matters

Building interview questions

Collaborate with hiring managers to design custom interview questions

for each attribute deemed necessary for success in the role Aligning

these questions to your scorecard focus attributes enables your

interviewers to make informed decisions that can more accurately

predict job performance

Establishing a decision-making framework

After developing your focus attributes and interview questions be sure

to define evaluation expectations for interview teams Ideally each

attribute-aligned question will include a specific rubric that outlines what

interviewers should look for in candidate answers and assessments

You can adapt this scorecard rating system to suit your company

Scorecard essentials for everyone

Scorecards are

fundamental to structured

hiring Consistent

candidate evaluation helps

mitigate interviewer bias

reduce total interview time

and drive a more evidence-

based decision framework

for selecting the right

talent

Herersquos a high-level

overview of scorecard

essentials

Strong yes is an exemplary response that clearly addresses each

element of the question with distinct examples (if appropriate)

Yes is a solid acceptable response that addresses most or all elements

of the question with clear examples

Mixed is an inconclusive response that may partially address the

question but does not provide the interviewer with evidence about the

candidatersquos capabilities A mixed rating does not equate to ldquoI donrsquot

knowrdquo ndash when an interviewer doesnrsquot have enough evidence they

should leave the attribute blank

No is an unacceptable response that ignores most or multiple

elements of the question

Strong no is an extremely unacceptable answer that doesnrsquot address

the question at all andor contains a comment that conflicts with your

companyrsquos culture Beyond that answers may blatantly disparage

others former employers communities etc

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 21

Part 4 For business leaders

Prioritizing DEampIForward-thinking business leaders (like you) are actively focused on

elevating their DEampI practices ndash not only to ensure that their teams

accurately reflect the demographics of their local population but also

to create a work environment that offers equitable opportunities where

people of all identities can thrive

Traditionally business leaders have looked to recruiting teams to

shoulder the work of diversifying the candidates moving through their

hiring pipelines However great business leaders understand that DEampI

is a company-wide commitment starting from the top ndash at Greenhouse

we call this the Talent Maker mindset

In a world where 57 of employees believe their companies should

improve diversity among their internal workforce and 86 of job

seekers actively seek out companies with diverse employee bases

proactively building inclusive hiring practices to allow for a better

diversity of hires isnrsquot just the right thing to do ndash itrsquos the smart thing

to do

McKinsey found that companies in the top quartile for racialethnic and

gender diversity were respectively 35 and 15 more likely to have

financial returns above the national median for their particular industry

That means being great at hiring today is about a lot more than how

quickly you make a hire Itrsquos also about exercising inclusive hiring

practices and having diversity on both sides of the interview process

among your interviewers and your candidates Itrsquos about business

leaders getting involved with DEampI to generate meaningful outcomes

No matter how valiantly a recruiter works to fill the top of a recruiting

funnel with underrepresented candidates if hiring managers donrsquot

similarly prioritize inclusive hiring those candidates will inevitably

leave the funnel ndash whether by choice or through the adverse impact of

unconscious bias

Letrsquos explore some of the ways that Talent Makers can boost DEampI in

their hiring strategies

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 22

Before focusing externally look internally at your own company

Diversifying your team isnrsquot only about bringing in a new hire who can

add a new perspective Itrsquos just as much about creating an environment

that allows that new hire to share their perspective and feel heard

Some leaders may skirt conversations around identity ndash by claiming to

be ldquocolorblindrdquo when it comes to race for example ndash but great leaders

lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each

employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

Ask questions

What does all this mean through the lens of hiring As you start

thinking about how to source underrepresented candidates answer

these questions

bull Why would a candidate from an underrepresented group want to

join your team

bull How would you articulate your commitment to supporting and

advocating for them as a manager

bull If you were releasing a public statement or articulating your

companyrsquos commitment to equity in response toin solidarity

with a societal movement how would you differentiate your

company from other organizations in a way thatrsquos authentic

bull More importantly how will you hold yourself accountable over

time for driving the changes you want to see

Next take a hard look at the demographics of your team Determine

the following

bull Which demographic groups ndash including but not limited to

gender raceethnicity sexual orientation industry experience

seniority education socioeconomic status and ability status ndash

are represented

bull Which groups are you lacking or are underrepresented

bull Look for patterns in the profiles of the people yoursquove hired up to

now ndash do they imply an inclination toward a certain personality

type background set of qualifications or even raceethnicity

bull If so how are you justifying that

Great leaders lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 23

bull Could you inadvertently be screening for privilege (think

preferred schools or degrees) rather than for ability and

potential

Have the conversation

Itrsquos time to invite your team into the conversation This can be the

uncomfortable part especially if yoursquore in an environment that

doesnrsquot have a precedent for such dialogues Actively sharing why

yoursquore prioritizing DEampI will signal its importance to your team help

address any discrepancies and start building the muscle for healthy

conversations on topics like race Yoursquoll also drive new awareness

and behaviors that can have outsized impacts on who you hire by

influencing your interview panels to be more open-minded and provide

better interviewing experiences to underrepresented candidates

Finally collaborate with your people operations or HR team to review

current department demographics based on self-reported employee

data This will lead to informed discussions about which groups to

focus on when diversifying hiring pipelines which ties back to your

goals around having better representation among your employees

Write your job descriptionsjob posts through an inclusive lens

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader

is a job description for a role on your team Itrsquos the first touchpoint

candidates have with your team and it directly impacts who does ndash

and doesnrsquot ndash engage in your interview process

Here are tips on how to make your job descriptions more inclusive ndash

and more attractive to the candidates yoursquore targeting

Identify and rework inherently biased language

Countless job descriptions contain language that is gendered which

can skew your talent pool before you even interact with candidates

Platforms like Textio leverage artificial intelligence to help remove

gender bias business jargon and other phrases that reinforce

stereotypes in written content

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader is a job description for a role on your team

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 24

Describe goals and growth opportunities

Focus on describing the exciting goals and clear objectives of the

job rather than listing day-to-day responsibilities that arenrsquot tied to

outcomes This will not only inspire candidates it will also help them

decide if what theyrsquoll own and learn in your job is aligned with their

career goals

Examples of unintentionally biased language

Masculine-tone

Exhaustive

Enforcement

Fearless

Feminine-tone

Transparent

Catalyst

In touch with

Textio writes ldquoA language pattern is considered gendered if it

statistically changes the proportion of men and women who respond

to a job post containing itrdquo Their research reveals that in jobs where

a man is hired the original job post averages almost twice as many

masculine-tone phrases as feminine In jobs where a woman is hired

Textio finds the exact opposite there are twice as many feminine-tone

phrases as masculine in the job post Here are a few common phrases

that exert this type of bias effect

bull What are the goals and outcomes you want this person to achieve

bull What are the success metrics being tracked and the desired outcomes

bull What does growth look like on your team when someone delivers

quarter over quarter

bull Who will this person be actively collaborating with

Questions to answer in your job description

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 25

Focus on skills over requirements

Carefully consider each requirement yoursquore adding to your job

description Can you shift your focus away from a specific number

of years of work experience or required degrees and move toward

a candidatersquos abilities Could you take it a step further and include

verbiage that encourages candidates to apply even if they might not

have all the necessary qualifications

Get other opinions

Continue to iterate and socialize your job description Share it with

someone whorsquos currently in the role or someone who represents an

underrepresented demographic group to learn if there are better ways to

position the content Incorporating feedback from different perspectives

is key to eliminating unintentional biases in the language

Use structured hiring to mitigate unconscious bias

Now that yoursquove communicated your focus on diversity and published

an inclusive job description you might think most of your work is

behind you After all isnrsquot the process mostly in your recruiterrsquos hands

from here Not just yet Once you have candidates entering your hiring

pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices

will really be put to the test

Consider adding an inclusivity statement

Is your job description unintentionally scaring candidates away

Research shows that women tend to only apply for jobs when they meet

100 of the requirements One way to encourage candidates from

diverse backgrounds to apply is by adding an inclusivity statement to

your list of qualifications Jobs are filled 6 faster when the description

includes an inclusion message or EEO statement Herersquos the Greenhouse

version (itrsquos the last item in the list of qualifications) ldquoYour own unique

talents If you donrsquot meet 100 of the qualifications outlined above tell

us why yoursquod be a great fit for this role in your cover letterrdquo

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 26

Here are a few important things to keep in mind to stay accountable to

your commitment to DEampI

Screen in over screening out

When reviewing resumes use the framework of screening in rather

than screening out While certain jobs will have hard requirements ndash an

engineer might need fluency in a certain coding language to perform in

their job ndash many employers are placing less emphasis on a strict set of

resume qualifications when determining who to move to the next stage

and thinking about how they can invest in training people who have

potential but donrsquot have specific qualifications

When conducting interviews many hiring managers get

understandably nervous when considering candidates from

backgrounds that are not currently represented on their team That

behavior is often grounded in similar-to-me bias and perpetuates

homogeneity Pay close attention to how you and your interviewers

react to historically underrepresented candidates and actively exercise

open-mindedness Your best hire may be the person who is different

from everyone else your team has hired in the past

Use the same criteria

To create an even playing field assess all candidates against the same

hiring criteria that yoursquove determined is necessary for the role which

is the core of structured hiring Similarly make sure each candidate is

answering the same interview questions from your interviewers This

allows your interviewers not only to focus on relevant areas to assess

but also to compare candidates in a data-driven and fair way in the

event yoursquore choosing between several finalists

Diversify your panel

Finally consider your interview panel Which demographic groups are

represented and which are not represented Do you have a panel of all

men Of all the same ethnicity or race Of all millennials If the answer

is yes to any of these scenarios how are you planning to address this

elephant in the room with candidates who identify differently Put

yourself in their shoes and be prepared to clearly explain why creating

a more diverse team is a priority for you

Once you have candidates entering your hiring pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices will really be put to the test

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 27

Measure wins by progress and improvements

If you donrsquot already have an extensive DEampI program at your

organization figuring out where to start can be challenging Who we

are informs everything we do ndash who we hire what we observe where

we live how we communicate ndash and it can be tough to know where to

focus when checking our own potential biases However starting with a

deep reflection of your hiring process is a way to take ownership of your

responsibility as a business leader to prioritize DEampI Your commitment

may not produce immediate results since company demographics

arenrsquot something that can change overnight but your efforts will drive

meaningful and positive change in the long run with respect to who you

hire and advocate for in your company

Own your influence As a leader you have the ability to influence others through your words

and actions Consider the ways you can demonstrate your commitment

to DEampI Here are some ideas to get you started

bull Sponsor an employee resource group and commit to helping

them achieve their goals

bull Attend diversity sourcing events and invite coworkers to join you

bull Refer candidates from overlookedunderrepresented groups to

open roles throughout your organization

bull Look for local organizations you can partner with ndash perhaps

you can sponsor a hackathon offer an internship or otherwise

support their mission

bull Ask for feedback and suggestions ndash your team might already

have some great ideas about how to prioritize DEampI

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 28

Part 5 For everyone

Creating an inclusive candidate experience to build stronger more diverse teamsEvery person in your company ndash regardless of their job title ndash can

contribute to inclusive hiring Whether theyrsquore making referrals

interviewing candidates or talking to prospects their actions can

have an impact on candidate experience Thatrsquos why itrsquos essential

to be intentional about the role everyone plays

Here are a few ways to create an inclusive candidate experience

Structured hiring

Structured hiring is an approach where selection decisions are

based on evidence not emotion Leaders align the role to a business

objective and build a rigorous and objective interview process

through conversations assignments and the like that can be used to

predict job performance Candidates are asked consistent questions

that connect back to specific attributes required for the role and

interviewers evaluate responses against a defined rating system in

the interview scorecard

In previous sections we covered how hiring managers and recruiters

can partner to implement structured hiring Remember that rolling

it out to your entire company will take time and effort Everyone

involved in the interview process will need to be trained on things

like how to conduct interviews take notes and score candidates

Consider integrating this training into new hire onboarding team

offsites or manager professional development to ensure everyone

stays up to date

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 29

Defining and hiring for culture add

Over the past several years wersquove seen companies move away

from assessing candidates on their ldquoculture fitrdquo because this term

can lead to homogeneous hiring But many companies still want

a way to determine whether candidates are aligned with their values

This is where ldquoculture addrdquo or values interviews can come into play

Culture-add interviews also give candidates the chance to meet

people from other teams and departments to get a broader sense of

your company culture

If culture-add interviews are part of your hiring process (or you want

them to be) yoursquoll want to consider the following

bull Who conducts culture-add interviews What is the selection

process like for identifying these interviewers within your

company and training them

bull Which questions does the culture-add interview cover How do

you define great acceptable and unacceptable answers

bull How often will you revisit and update this process

Hiring Maturity success story Neil Casey ThoughtWorks

In this limited podcast

series Greenhouse

President and Co-

founder Jon Stross sat

down with talent leaders

from leading companies

to discuss their Hiring

Maturity journeys Listen

in as Jon invites Neil

Casey Global Head of

Sourcing and Strategic

Hiring at ThoughtWorks

to discuss building an

inclusive hiring process

at scale

Explore the Greenhouse DEampI feature set

Take structured interviewing to the next level with solutions that enable

recruiters interviewers and hiring managers to operationalize and

scale fairer hiring practices Herersquos a brief overview of the Greenhouse

DEampI feature set

Data collection and reporting ndash Track self-reported applicant

demographic data throughout the hiring funnel (from sourcing

to offer) and measure pass-throughdrop-off rates

In-the-moment interventions ndash Reminders that nudge users to

slow down and avoid instinctive mental shortcuts that arenrsquot

rooted in evidence or tied to job-relevant criteria

Structured decision-making ndash Added guardrails that support

a more objective selection process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 30

Encouraging an inclusive approach to employee referrals

Employee referrals are a great way to get everyone involved in the

hiring process Itrsquos exciting to have a hand in shaping the future of your

company while helping someone in your network land their next role

But certain groups tend to benefit from referrals more than others

which can lead to more homogeneity

The good news is that referrals donrsquot automatically lead to

homogeneous hires according to research by DEampI consultancy

Paradigm They partnered with Pinterest to determine why employee

referrals tend to be homogenous Is it because peoplersquos networks

are truly that homogenous or is it due to pattern-matching bias

(employees are looking around at their coworkers and only thinking

of people who are similar to the existing team) Paradigm found that

when a leader asked employees to be more mindful about diversity

when offering referrals especially people of color and women it made

a tangible impact over the following six weeks So be sure to encourage

employees to consider diversity when making referrals

DonorsChoose takes a data-driven approach to DEampI in their hiring

DonorsChoosersquos challenge Develop a hiring process that aligns with

the organizationrsquos commitment to DEampI in their work in education

DonorsChoose has a high standard for their DEampI hiring efforts and

wanted to intentionally drive a more diverse candidate pool To do so

they had to prioritize gathering better data on diversity in their hiring

pools Without that data conversations between the People and Talent

team and hiring managers felt uninformed and ineffective

DonorsChoose wanted data at their fingertips to drive their DEampI

hiring efforts The Greenhouse DEampI feature set offered them a robust

set of tools Since turning on custom demographic reporting the

DonorsChoose team has seen an improvement and recognized that

now 58 of the candidates who have made it to the face-to-face

interview stage at DonorsChoose have identified as people of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 31

ConclusionWe recommend sitting with these strategies for a few days rather than

immediately jumping into action Take time to reflect on your next

steps and collaborate with your internal partners in order to create the

optimal DEampI hiring strategy for your company

Remember that when it comes to DEampI therersquos no ldquoend staterdquo to arrive

at Wersquore all on the same journey of curiosity listening progress and

discovery

If yoursquod like to do further reading or research on any of the topics we

covered wersquove curated a list of recommended reading for you

We are your partners and allies and stand beside you in this work and

will help you as best we can All of us at Greenhouse are committed to

bringing about lasting change and we will be your partner in creating

a more equitable hiring process so you can build more inclusive

stronger teams

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 32

Recommended reading

DEampI strategy Creating an Effective Diversity and Inclusion

Program

DEampI strategy Hiring Diverse Candidates is Not Enough ndash

Itrsquos About Keeping Them

DEampI strategy Toward a Racially Just Workplace

DEampI strategy Why So Many Organizations Stay White

DEampI strategy Do Your DampI Efforts Include People with

Disabilities

Hiring If Therersquos Only One Woman in Your Candidate

Pool Therersquos Statisically No Chance Shersquoll Be

Hired

Hiring A Data-Driven Approach to Hiring More

Diverse Talent

Hiring How to Alter Your Hiring Practices to Increase

Diversity

Hiring Research How Speech Patterns Lead to

Hiring Bias

Intersectionality Do Your Diversity Efforts Reflect the

Experiences of Women of Color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 33

Recommended reading (continued)

Sourcing Could This Be The Secret To Hiring More

Women And People Of Color

Sourcing Diversity Sourcing Strategy 3 LinkedIn

Search Tips from Boolean Master Glen

Cathey

Sourcing How to increase workplace diversity with

employee referrals

Unconscious bias Managing Unconscious Bias Strategies to

Manage Bias amp Build More Diverse Inclusive

Organizations

Unconscious bias 50 Ways to Fight Bias

Unconscious bias 12 Unconscious Bias Examples and How to

Avoid Them in the Workplace

Unconscious bias Harvard Project Implicit Association Tests

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 34

Greenhouse is the hiring software company

We help businesses be great at hiring through

our powerful hiring approach complete suite of

software and services and large partner ecosystem ndash

so businesses can hire for whatrsquos next

To learn more visit

greenhouseio

Page 19: eBook Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company

A simple structured hiring template

Want to add more structure

to your hiring process

Here are a few questions

and points to consider next

time you open a new role

Who are you trying to hire

bull Role name

bull Department

bull Who will this person report to

bull What business objectives are you trying to meet with this role

How will you evaluate the candidate

bull Skills

bull Personality traits

bull Qualifications

What will the interview process look like

bull Define the interview stages (application review phone screen

hiring manager interview etc)

bull Decide which qualities will be assessed in each stage

bull Plan out the questions or assessments for each quality

Screening

bull Based on your structured hiring template design an effective

scorecard and create clear evaluation criteria that your

interviewers can discuss in their roundups to make informed

objective decisions when assessing candidates (see page 21 for

a quick introduction to scorecards)

bull Ensure your focus attributes are specific measurable attainable

and relevant to the role(s) yoursquore recruiting for

bull Consider integrating your companyrsquos performance management

competencies (if possible) when determining focus attributes if

you have difficulty developing new ones

bull Using the performance outcomes for the role develop a bank

of behavioral and situational interview questions that match the

complexity of the role

bull Define the range of answers for your questions from exemplary

to unacceptable and train your interviewers on how to document

their feedback in the scorecard

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 19

bull Mitigate opportunities for late-stage interviewers to be

influencedbiased by previously submitted scorecards

bull Train members of employee resource groups (ERGs) to

participate as interviewers to ensure a balance of perspectives

bull Evaluate whether leveraging skills-based hiring makes sense for

your company

bull Work samples or assessments have the highest predictive

validity for job performance and grading them anonymously can

help mitigate bias

Selecting

bull Assessments like Predictive Index can help you identify

candidates who can balance out your team

bull Establish clear consistent candidate evaluation criteria for your

interviewers to adhere to as a part of a structured hiring process

bull Train your interviewers with proper interview prep material use

focus attributes to eliminate redundancy and require detailed

low-inference and objective interview notes for every attribute

assessed

bull Review all interview feedback ask probing questions about

vague or inferential comments and encourage interviewers to

anchor their decisions in the key takeaways of your interview

rubric

Hiring

bull Audit your compensation structure to ensure that salaries are at

market rate and determine your thresholds for salary negotiation

regardless of the candidate

bull Be transparent about your compensation philosophy and

consider not allowing anyone to negotiate compensation to

drive pay equity

bull Review comments from candidate surveys to measure candidate

experience and leverage the data to make iterations where

necessary throughout your process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 20

Creating attributes

Aim for at least 3ndash6 mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive

focus attributes per category for your scorecards Consider integrating

the SMART (Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-based)

framework to ensure your interviewers are enabled to measure what

matters

Building interview questions

Collaborate with hiring managers to design custom interview questions

for each attribute deemed necessary for success in the role Aligning

these questions to your scorecard focus attributes enables your

interviewers to make informed decisions that can more accurately

predict job performance

Establishing a decision-making framework

After developing your focus attributes and interview questions be sure

to define evaluation expectations for interview teams Ideally each

attribute-aligned question will include a specific rubric that outlines what

interviewers should look for in candidate answers and assessments

You can adapt this scorecard rating system to suit your company

Scorecard essentials for everyone

Scorecards are

fundamental to structured

hiring Consistent

candidate evaluation helps

mitigate interviewer bias

reduce total interview time

and drive a more evidence-

based decision framework

for selecting the right

talent

Herersquos a high-level

overview of scorecard

essentials

Strong yes is an exemplary response that clearly addresses each

element of the question with distinct examples (if appropriate)

Yes is a solid acceptable response that addresses most or all elements

of the question with clear examples

Mixed is an inconclusive response that may partially address the

question but does not provide the interviewer with evidence about the

candidatersquos capabilities A mixed rating does not equate to ldquoI donrsquot

knowrdquo ndash when an interviewer doesnrsquot have enough evidence they

should leave the attribute blank

No is an unacceptable response that ignores most or multiple

elements of the question

Strong no is an extremely unacceptable answer that doesnrsquot address

the question at all andor contains a comment that conflicts with your

companyrsquos culture Beyond that answers may blatantly disparage

others former employers communities etc

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 21

Part 4 For business leaders

Prioritizing DEampIForward-thinking business leaders (like you) are actively focused on

elevating their DEampI practices ndash not only to ensure that their teams

accurately reflect the demographics of their local population but also

to create a work environment that offers equitable opportunities where

people of all identities can thrive

Traditionally business leaders have looked to recruiting teams to

shoulder the work of diversifying the candidates moving through their

hiring pipelines However great business leaders understand that DEampI

is a company-wide commitment starting from the top ndash at Greenhouse

we call this the Talent Maker mindset

In a world where 57 of employees believe their companies should

improve diversity among their internal workforce and 86 of job

seekers actively seek out companies with diverse employee bases

proactively building inclusive hiring practices to allow for a better

diversity of hires isnrsquot just the right thing to do ndash itrsquos the smart thing

to do

McKinsey found that companies in the top quartile for racialethnic and

gender diversity were respectively 35 and 15 more likely to have

financial returns above the national median for their particular industry

That means being great at hiring today is about a lot more than how

quickly you make a hire Itrsquos also about exercising inclusive hiring

practices and having diversity on both sides of the interview process

among your interviewers and your candidates Itrsquos about business

leaders getting involved with DEampI to generate meaningful outcomes

No matter how valiantly a recruiter works to fill the top of a recruiting

funnel with underrepresented candidates if hiring managers donrsquot

similarly prioritize inclusive hiring those candidates will inevitably

leave the funnel ndash whether by choice or through the adverse impact of

unconscious bias

Letrsquos explore some of the ways that Talent Makers can boost DEampI in

their hiring strategies

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 22

Before focusing externally look internally at your own company

Diversifying your team isnrsquot only about bringing in a new hire who can

add a new perspective Itrsquos just as much about creating an environment

that allows that new hire to share their perspective and feel heard

Some leaders may skirt conversations around identity ndash by claiming to

be ldquocolorblindrdquo when it comes to race for example ndash but great leaders

lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each

employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

Ask questions

What does all this mean through the lens of hiring As you start

thinking about how to source underrepresented candidates answer

these questions

bull Why would a candidate from an underrepresented group want to

join your team

bull How would you articulate your commitment to supporting and

advocating for them as a manager

bull If you were releasing a public statement or articulating your

companyrsquos commitment to equity in response toin solidarity

with a societal movement how would you differentiate your

company from other organizations in a way thatrsquos authentic

bull More importantly how will you hold yourself accountable over

time for driving the changes you want to see

Next take a hard look at the demographics of your team Determine

the following

bull Which demographic groups ndash including but not limited to

gender raceethnicity sexual orientation industry experience

seniority education socioeconomic status and ability status ndash

are represented

bull Which groups are you lacking or are underrepresented

bull Look for patterns in the profiles of the people yoursquove hired up to

now ndash do they imply an inclination toward a certain personality

type background set of qualifications or even raceethnicity

bull If so how are you justifying that

Great leaders lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 23

bull Could you inadvertently be screening for privilege (think

preferred schools or degrees) rather than for ability and

potential

Have the conversation

Itrsquos time to invite your team into the conversation This can be the

uncomfortable part especially if yoursquore in an environment that

doesnrsquot have a precedent for such dialogues Actively sharing why

yoursquore prioritizing DEampI will signal its importance to your team help

address any discrepancies and start building the muscle for healthy

conversations on topics like race Yoursquoll also drive new awareness

and behaviors that can have outsized impacts on who you hire by

influencing your interview panels to be more open-minded and provide

better interviewing experiences to underrepresented candidates

Finally collaborate with your people operations or HR team to review

current department demographics based on self-reported employee

data This will lead to informed discussions about which groups to

focus on when diversifying hiring pipelines which ties back to your

goals around having better representation among your employees

Write your job descriptionsjob posts through an inclusive lens

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader

is a job description for a role on your team Itrsquos the first touchpoint

candidates have with your team and it directly impacts who does ndash

and doesnrsquot ndash engage in your interview process

Here are tips on how to make your job descriptions more inclusive ndash

and more attractive to the candidates yoursquore targeting

Identify and rework inherently biased language

Countless job descriptions contain language that is gendered which

can skew your talent pool before you even interact with candidates

Platforms like Textio leverage artificial intelligence to help remove

gender bias business jargon and other phrases that reinforce

stereotypes in written content

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader is a job description for a role on your team

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 24

Describe goals and growth opportunities

Focus on describing the exciting goals and clear objectives of the

job rather than listing day-to-day responsibilities that arenrsquot tied to

outcomes This will not only inspire candidates it will also help them

decide if what theyrsquoll own and learn in your job is aligned with their

career goals

Examples of unintentionally biased language

Masculine-tone

Exhaustive

Enforcement

Fearless

Feminine-tone

Transparent

Catalyst

In touch with

Textio writes ldquoA language pattern is considered gendered if it

statistically changes the proportion of men and women who respond

to a job post containing itrdquo Their research reveals that in jobs where

a man is hired the original job post averages almost twice as many

masculine-tone phrases as feminine In jobs where a woman is hired

Textio finds the exact opposite there are twice as many feminine-tone

phrases as masculine in the job post Here are a few common phrases

that exert this type of bias effect

bull What are the goals and outcomes you want this person to achieve

bull What are the success metrics being tracked and the desired outcomes

bull What does growth look like on your team when someone delivers

quarter over quarter

bull Who will this person be actively collaborating with

Questions to answer in your job description

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 25

Focus on skills over requirements

Carefully consider each requirement yoursquore adding to your job

description Can you shift your focus away from a specific number

of years of work experience or required degrees and move toward

a candidatersquos abilities Could you take it a step further and include

verbiage that encourages candidates to apply even if they might not

have all the necessary qualifications

Get other opinions

Continue to iterate and socialize your job description Share it with

someone whorsquos currently in the role or someone who represents an

underrepresented demographic group to learn if there are better ways to

position the content Incorporating feedback from different perspectives

is key to eliminating unintentional biases in the language

Use structured hiring to mitigate unconscious bias

Now that yoursquove communicated your focus on diversity and published

an inclusive job description you might think most of your work is

behind you After all isnrsquot the process mostly in your recruiterrsquos hands

from here Not just yet Once you have candidates entering your hiring

pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices

will really be put to the test

Consider adding an inclusivity statement

Is your job description unintentionally scaring candidates away

Research shows that women tend to only apply for jobs when they meet

100 of the requirements One way to encourage candidates from

diverse backgrounds to apply is by adding an inclusivity statement to

your list of qualifications Jobs are filled 6 faster when the description

includes an inclusion message or EEO statement Herersquos the Greenhouse

version (itrsquos the last item in the list of qualifications) ldquoYour own unique

talents If you donrsquot meet 100 of the qualifications outlined above tell

us why yoursquod be a great fit for this role in your cover letterrdquo

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 26

Here are a few important things to keep in mind to stay accountable to

your commitment to DEampI

Screen in over screening out

When reviewing resumes use the framework of screening in rather

than screening out While certain jobs will have hard requirements ndash an

engineer might need fluency in a certain coding language to perform in

their job ndash many employers are placing less emphasis on a strict set of

resume qualifications when determining who to move to the next stage

and thinking about how they can invest in training people who have

potential but donrsquot have specific qualifications

When conducting interviews many hiring managers get

understandably nervous when considering candidates from

backgrounds that are not currently represented on their team That

behavior is often grounded in similar-to-me bias and perpetuates

homogeneity Pay close attention to how you and your interviewers

react to historically underrepresented candidates and actively exercise

open-mindedness Your best hire may be the person who is different

from everyone else your team has hired in the past

Use the same criteria

To create an even playing field assess all candidates against the same

hiring criteria that yoursquove determined is necessary for the role which

is the core of structured hiring Similarly make sure each candidate is

answering the same interview questions from your interviewers This

allows your interviewers not only to focus on relevant areas to assess

but also to compare candidates in a data-driven and fair way in the

event yoursquore choosing between several finalists

Diversify your panel

Finally consider your interview panel Which demographic groups are

represented and which are not represented Do you have a panel of all

men Of all the same ethnicity or race Of all millennials If the answer

is yes to any of these scenarios how are you planning to address this

elephant in the room with candidates who identify differently Put

yourself in their shoes and be prepared to clearly explain why creating

a more diverse team is a priority for you

Once you have candidates entering your hiring pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices will really be put to the test

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 27

Measure wins by progress and improvements

If you donrsquot already have an extensive DEampI program at your

organization figuring out where to start can be challenging Who we

are informs everything we do ndash who we hire what we observe where

we live how we communicate ndash and it can be tough to know where to

focus when checking our own potential biases However starting with a

deep reflection of your hiring process is a way to take ownership of your

responsibility as a business leader to prioritize DEampI Your commitment

may not produce immediate results since company demographics

arenrsquot something that can change overnight but your efforts will drive

meaningful and positive change in the long run with respect to who you

hire and advocate for in your company

Own your influence As a leader you have the ability to influence others through your words

and actions Consider the ways you can demonstrate your commitment

to DEampI Here are some ideas to get you started

bull Sponsor an employee resource group and commit to helping

them achieve their goals

bull Attend diversity sourcing events and invite coworkers to join you

bull Refer candidates from overlookedunderrepresented groups to

open roles throughout your organization

bull Look for local organizations you can partner with ndash perhaps

you can sponsor a hackathon offer an internship or otherwise

support their mission

bull Ask for feedback and suggestions ndash your team might already

have some great ideas about how to prioritize DEampI

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 28

Part 5 For everyone

Creating an inclusive candidate experience to build stronger more diverse teamsEvery person in your company ndash regardless of their job title ndash can

contribute to inclusive hiring Whether theyrsquore making referrals

interviewing candidates or talking to prospects their actions can

have an impact on candidate experience Thatrsquos why itrsquos essential

to be intentional about the role everyone plays

Here are a few ways to create an inclusive candidate experience

Structured hiring

Structured hiring is an approach where selection decisions are

based on evidence not emotion Leaders align the role to a business

objective and build a rigorous and objective interview process

through conversations assignments and the like that can be used to

predict job performance Candidates are asked consistent questions

that connect back to specific attributes required for the role and

interviewers evaluate responses against a defined rating system in

the interview scorecard

In previous sections we covered how hiring managers and recruiters

can partner to implement structured hiring Remember that rolling

it out to your entire company will take time and effort Everyone

involved in the interview process will need to be trained on things

like how to conduct interviews take notes and score candidates

Consider integrating this training into new hire onboarding team

offsites or manager professional development to ensure everyone

stays up to date

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 29

Defining and hiring for culture add

Over the past several years wersquove seen companies move away

from assessing candidates on their ldquoculture fitrdquo because this term

can lead to homogeneous hiring But many companies still want

a way to determine whether candidates are aligned with their values

This is where ldquoculture addrdquo or values interviews can come into play

Culture-add interviews also give candidates the chance to meet

people from other teams and departments to get a broader sense of

your company culture

If culture-add interviews are part of your hiring process (or you want

them to be) yoursquoll want to consider the following

bull Who conducts culture-add interviews What is the selection

process like for identifying these interviewers within your

company and training them

bull Which questions does the culture-add interview cover How do

you define great acceptable and unacceptable answers

bull How often will you revisit and update this process

Hiring Maturity success story Neil Casey ThoughtWorks

In this limited podcast

series Greenhouse

President and Co-

founder Jon Stross sat

down with talent leaders

from leading companies

to discuss their Hiring

Maturity journeys Listen

in as Jon invites Neil

Casey Global Head of

Sourcing and Strategic

Hiring at ThoughtWorks

to discuss building an

inclusive hiring process

at scale

Explore the Greenhouse DEampI feature set

Take structured interviewing to the next level with solutions that enable

recruiters interviewers and hiring managers to operationalize and

scale fairer hiring practices Herersquos a brief overview of the Greenhouse

DEampI feature set

Data collection and reporting ndash Track self-reported applicant

demographic data throughout the hiring funnel (from sourcing

to offer) and measure pass-throughdrop-off rates

In-the-moment interventions ndash Reminders that nudge users to

slow down and avoid instinctive mental shortcuts that arenrsquot

rooted in evidence or tied to job-relevant criteria

Structured decision-making ndash Added guardrails that support

a more objective selection process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 30

Encouraging an inclusive approach to employee referrals

Employee referrals are a great way to get everyone involved in the

hiring process Itrsquos exciting to have a hand in shaping the future of your

company while helping someone in your network land their next role

But certain groups tend to benefit from referrals more than others

which can lead to more homogeneity

The good news is that referrals donrsquot automatically lead to

homogeneous hires according to research by DEampI consultancy

Paradigm They partnered with Pinterest to determine why employee

referrals tend to be homogenous Is it because peoplersquos networks

are truly that homogenous or is it due to pattern-matching bias

(employees are looking around at their coworkers and only thinking

of people who are similar to the existing team) Paradigm found that

when a leader asked employees to be more mindful about diversity

when offering referrals especially people of color and women it made

a tangible impact over the following six weeks So be sure to encourage

employees to consider diversity when making referrals

DonorsChoose takes a data-driven approach to DEampI in their hiring

DonorsChoosersquos challenge Develop a hiring process that aligns with

the organizationrsquos commitment to DEampI in their work in education

DonorsChoose has a high standard for their DEampI hiring efforts and

wanted to intentionally drive a more diverse candidate pool To do so

they had to prioritize gathering better data on diversity in their hiring

pools Without that data conversations between the People and Talent

team and hiring managers felt uninformed and ineffective

DonorsChoose wanted data at their fingertips to drive their DEampI

hiring efforts The Greenhouse DEampI feature set offered them a robust

set of tools Since turning on custom demographic reporting the

DonorsChoose team has seen an improvement and recognized that

now 58 of the candidates who have made it to the face-to-face

interview stage at DonorsChoose have identified as people of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 31

ConclusionWe recommend sitting with these strategies for a few days rather than

immediately jumping into action Take time to reflect on your next

steps and collaborate with your internal partners in order to create the

optimal DEampI hiring strategy for your company

Remember that when it comes to DEampI therersquos no ldquoend staterdquo to arrive

at Wersquore all on the same journey of curiosity listening progress and

discovery

If yoursquod like to do further reading or research on any of the topics we

covered wersquove curated a list of recommended reading for you

We are your partners and allies and stand beside you in this work and

will help you as best we can All of us at Greenhouse are committed to

bringing about lasting change and we will be your partner in creating

a more equitable hiring process so you can build more inclusive

stronger teams

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 32

Recommended reading

DEampI strategy Creating an Effective Diversity and Inclusion

Program

DEampI strategy Hiring Diverse Candidates is Not Enough ndash

Itrsquos About Keeping Them

DEampI strategy Toward a Racially Just Workplace

DEampI strategy Why So Many Organizations Stay White

DEampI strategy Do Your DampI Efforts Include People with

Disabilities

Hiring If Therersquos Only One Woman in Your Candidate

Pool Therersquos Statisically No Chance Shersquoll Be

Hired

Hiring A Data-Driven Approach to Hiring More

Diverse Talent

Hiring How to Alter Your Hiring Practices to Increase

Diversity

Hiring Research How Speech Patterns Lead to

Hiring Bias

Intersectionality Do Your Diversity Efforts Reflect the

Experiences of Women of Color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 33

Recommended reading (continued)

Sourcing Could This Be The Secret To Hiring More

Women And People Of Color

Sourcing Diversity Sourcing Strategy 3 LinkedIn

Search Tips from Boolean Master Glen

Cathey

Sourcing How to increase workplace diversity with

employee referrals

Unconscious bias Managing Unconscious Bias Strategies to

Manage Bias amp Build More Diverse Inclusive

Organizations

Unconscious bias 50 Ways to Fight Bias

Unconscious bias 12 Unconscious Bias Examples and How to

Avoid Them in the Workplace

Unconscious bias Harvard Project Implicit Association Tests

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 34

Greenhouse is the hiring software company

We help businesses be great at hiring through

our powerful hiring approach complete suite of

software and services and large partner ecosystem ndash

so businesses can hire for whatrsquos next

To learn more visit

greenhouseio

Page 20: eBook Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company

bull Mitigate opportunities for late-stage interviewers to be

influencedbiased by previously submitted scorecards

bull Train members of employee resource groups (ERGs) to

participate as interviewers to ensure a balance of perspectives

bull Evaluate whether leveraging skills-based hiring makes sense for

your company

bull Work samples or assessments have the highest predictive

validity for job performance and grading them anonymously can

help mitigate bias

Selecting

bull Assessments like Predictive Index can help you identify

candidates who can balance out your team

bull Establish clear consistent candidate evaluation criteria for your

interviewers to adhere to as a part of a structured hiring process

bull Train your interviewers with proper interview prep material use

focus attributes to eliminate redundancy and require detailed

low-inference and objective interview notes for every attribute

assessed

bull Review all interview feedback ask probing questions about

vague or inferential comments and encourage interviewers to

anchor their decisions in the key takeaways of your interview

rubric

Hiring

bull Audit your compensation structure to ensure that salaries are at

market rate and determine your thresholds for salary negotiation

regardless of the candidate

bull Be transparent about your compensation philosophy and

consider not allowing anyone to negotiate compensation to

drive pay equity

bull Review comments from candidate surveys to measure candidate

experience and leverage the data to make iterations where

necessary throughout your process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 20

Creating attributes

Aim for at least 3ndash6 mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive

focus attributes per category for your scorecards Consider integrating

the SMART (Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-based)

framework to ensure your interviewers are enabled to measure what

matters

Building interview questions

Collaborate with hiring managers to design custom interview questions

for each attribute deemed necessary for success in the role Aligning

these questions to your scorecard focus attributes enables your

interviewers to make informed decisions that can more accurately

predict job performance

Establishing a decision-making framework

After developing your focus attributes and interview questions be sure

to define evaluation expectations for interview teams Ideally each

attribute-aligned question will include a specific rubric that outlines what

interviewers should look for in candidate answers and assessments

You can adapt this scorecard rating system to suit your company

Scorecard essentials for everyone

Scorecards are

fundamental to structured

hiring Consistent

candidate evaluation helps

mitigate interviewer bias

reduce total interview time

and drive a more evidence-

based decision framework

for selecting the right

talent

Herersquos a high-level

overview of scorecard

essentials

Strong yes is an exemplary response that clearly addresses each

element of the question with distinct examples (if appropriate)

Yes is a solid acceptable response that addresses most or all elements

of the question with clear examples

Mixed is an inconclusive response that may partially address the

question but does not provide the interviewer with evidence about the

candidatersquos capabilities A mixed rating does not equate to ldquoI donrsquot

knowrdquo ndash when an interviewer doesnrsquot have enough evidence they

should leave the attribute blank

No is an unacceptable response that ignores most or multiple

elements of the question

Strong no is an extremely unacceptable answer that doesnrsquot address

the question at all andor contains a comment that conflicts with your

companyrsquos culture Beyond that answers may blatantly disparage

others former employers communities etc

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 21

Part 4 For business leaders

Prioritizing DEampIForward-thinking business leaders (like you) are actively focused on

elevating their DEampI practices ndash not only to ensure that their teams

accurately reflect the demographics of their local population but also

to create a work environment that offers equitable opportunities where

people of all identities can thrive

Traditionally business leaders have looked to recruiting teams to

shoulder the work of diversifying the candidates moving through their

hiring pipelines However great business leaders understand that DEampI

is a company-wide commitment starting from the top ndash at Greenhouse

we call this the Talent Maker mindset

In a world where 57 of employees believe their companies should

improve diversity among their internal workforce and 86 of job

seekers actively seek out companies with diverse employee bases

proactively building inclusive hiring practices to allow for a better

diversity of hires isnrsquot just the right thing to do ndash itrsquos the smart thing

to do

McKinsey found that companies in the top quartile for racialethnic and

gender diversity were respectively 35 and 15 more likely to have

financial returns above the national median for their particular industry

That means being great at hiring today is about a lot more than how

quickly you make a hire Itrsquos also about exercising inclusive hiring

practices and having diversity on both sides of the interview process

among your interviewers and your candidates Itrsquos about business

leaders getting involved with DEampI to generate meaningful outcomes

No matter how valiantly a recruiter works to fill the top of a recruiting

funnel with underrepresented candidates if hiring managers donrsquot

similarly prioritize inclusive hiring those candidates will inevitably

leave the funnel ndash whether by choice or through the adverse impact of

unconscious bias

Letrsquos explore some of the ways that Talent Makers can boost DEampI in

their hiring strategies

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 22

Before focusing externally look internally at your own company

Diversifying your team isnrsquot only about bringing in a new hire who can

add a new perspective Itrsquos just as much about creating an environment

that allows that new hire to share their perspective and feel heard

Some leaders may skirt conversations around identity ndash by claiming to

be ldquocolorblindrdquo when it comes to race for example ndash but great leaders

lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each

employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

Ask questions

What does all this mean through the lens of hiring As you start

thinking about how to source underrepresented candidates answer

these questions

bull Why would a candidate from an underrepresented group want to

join your team

bull How would you articulate your commitment to supporting and

advocating for them as a manager

bull If you were releasing a public statement or articulating your

companyrsquos commitment to equity in response toin solidarity

with a societal movement how would you differentiate your

company from other organizations in a way thatrsquos authentic

bull More importantly how will you hold yourself accountable over

time for driving the changes you want to see

Next take a hard look at the demographics of your team Determine

the following

bull Which demographic groups ndash including but not limited to

gender raceethnicity sexual orientation industry experience

seniority education socioeconomic status and ability status ndash

are represented

bull Which groups are you lacking or are underrepresented

bull Look for patterns in the profiles of the people yoursquove hired up to

now ndash do they imply an inclination toward a certain personality

type background set of qualifications or even raceethnicity

bull If so how are you justifying that

Great leaders lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 23

bull Could you inadvertently be screening for privilege (think

preferred schools or degrees) rather than for ability and

potential

Have the conversation

Itrsquos time to invite your team into the conversation This can be the

uncomfortable part especially if yoursquore in an environment that

doesnrsquot have a precedent for such dialogues Actively sharing why

yoursquore prioritizing DEampI will signal its importance to your team help

address any discrepancies and start building the muscle for healthy

conversations on topics like race Yoursquoll also drive new awareness

and behaviors that can have outsized impacts on who you hire by

influencing your interview panels to be more open-minded and provide

better interviewing experiences to underrepresented candidates

Finally collaborate with your people operations or HR team to review

current department demographics based on self-reported employee

data This will lead to informed discussions about which groups to

focus on when diversifying hiring pipelines which ties back to your

goals around having better representation among your employees

Write your job descriptionsjob posts through an inclusive lens

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader

is a job description for a role on your team Itrsquos the first touchpoint

candidates have with your team and it directly impacts who does ndash

and doesnrsquot ndash engage in your interview process

Here are tips on how to make your job descriptions more inclusive ndash

and more attractive to the candidates yoursquore targeting

Identify and rework inherently biased language

Countless job descriptions contain language that is gendered which

can skew your talent pool before you even interact with candidates

Platforms like Textio leverage artificial intelligence to help remove

gender bias business jargon and other phrases that reinforce

stereotypes in written content

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader is a job description for a role on your team

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 24

Describe goals and growth opportunities

Focus on describing the exciting goals and clear objectives of the

job rather than listing day-to-day responsibilities that arenrsquot tied to

outcomes This will not only inspire candidates it will also help them

decide if what theyrsquoll own and learn in your job is aligned with their

career goals

Examples of unintentionally biased language

Masculine-tone

Exhaustive

Enforcement

Fearless

Feminine-tone

Transparent

Catalyst

In touch with

Textio writes ldquoA language pattern is considered gendered if it

statistically changes the proportion of men and women who respond

to a job post containing itrdquo Their research reveals that in jobs where

a man is hired the original job post averages almost twice as many

masculine-tone phrases as feminine In jobs where a woman is hired

Textio finds the exact opposite there are twice as many feminine-tone

phrases as masculine in the job post Here are a few common phrases

that exert this type of bias effect

bull What are the goals and outcomes you want this person to achieve

bull What are the success metrics being tracked and the desired outcomes

bull What does growth look like on your team when someone delivers

quarter over quarter

bull Who will this person be actively collaborating with

Questions to answer in your job description

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 25

Focus on skills over requirements

Carefully consider each requirement yoursquore adding to your job

description Can you shift your focus away from a specific number

of years of work experience or required degrees and move toward

a candidatersquos abilities Could you take it a step further and include

verbiage that encourages candidates to apply even if they might not

have all the necessary qualifications

Get other opinions

Continue to iterate and socialize your job description Share it with

someone whorsquos currently in the role or someone who represents an

underrepresented demographic group to learn if there are better ways to

position the content Incorporating feedback from different perspectives

is key to eliminating unintentional biases in the language

Use structured hiring to mitigate unconscious bias

Now that yoursquove communicated your focus on diversity and published

an inclusive job description you might think most of your work is

behind you After all isnrsquot the process mostly in your recruiterrsquos hands

from here Not just yet Once you have candidates entering your hiring

pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices

will really be put to the test

Consider adding an inclusivity statement

Is your job description unintentionally scaring candidates away

Research shows that women tend to only apply for jobs when they meet

100 of the requirements One way to encourage candidates from

diverse backgrounds to apply is by adding an inclusivity statement to

your list of qualifications Jobs are filled 6 faster when the description

includes an inclusion message or EEO statement Herersquos the Greenhouse

version (itrsquos the last item in the list of qualifications) ldquoYour own unique

talents If you donrsquot meet 100 of the qualifications outlined above tell

us why yoursquod be a great fit for this role in your cover letterrdquo

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 26

Here are a few important things to keep in mind to stay accountable to

your commitment to DEampI

Screen in over screening out

When reviewing resumes use the framework of screening in rather

than screening out While certain jobs will have hard requirements ndash an

engineer might need fluency in a certain coding language to perform in

their job ndash many employers are placing less emphasis on a strict set of

resume qualifications when determining who to move to the next stage

and thinking about how they can invest in training people who have

potential but donrsquot have specific qualifications

When conducting interviews many hiring managers get

understandably nervous when considering candidates from

backgrounds that are not currently represented on their team That

behavior is often grounded in similar-to-me bias and perpetuates

homogeneity Pay close attention to how you and your interviewers

react to historically underrepresented candidates and actively exercise

open-mindedness Your best hire may be the person who is different

from everyone else your team has hired in the past

Use the same criteria

To create an even playing field assess all candidates against the same

hiring criteria that yoursquove determined is necessary for the role which

is the core of structured hiring Similarly make sure each candidate is

answering the same interview questions from your interviewers This

allows your interviewers not only to focus on relevant areas to assess

but also to compare candidates in a data-driven and fair way in the

event yoursquore choosing between several finalists

Diversify your panel

Finally consider your interview panel Which demographic groups are

represented and which are not represented Do you have a panel of all

men Of all the same ethnicity or race Of all millennials If the answer

is yes to any of these scenarios how are you planning to address this

elephant in the room with candidates who identify differently Put

yourself in their shoes and be prepared to clearly explain why creating

a more diverse team is a priority for you

Once you have candidates entering your hiring pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices will really be put to the test

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 27

Measure wins by progress and improvements

If you donrsquot already have an extensive DEampI program at your

organization figuring out where to start can be challenging Who we

are informs everything we do ndash who we hire what we observe where

we live how we communicate ndash and it can be tough to know where to

focus when checking our own potential biases However starting with a

deep reflection of your hiring process is a way to take ownership of your

responsibility as a business leader to prioritize DEampI Your commitment

may not produce immediate results since company demographics

arenrsquot something that can change overnight but your efforts will drive

meaningful and positive change in the long run with respect to who you

hire and advocate for in your company

Own your influence As a leader you have the ability to influence others through your words

and actions Consider the ways you can demonstrate your commitment

to DEampI Here are some ideas to get you started

bull Sponsor an employee resource group and commit to helping

them achieve their goals

bull Attend diversity sourcing events and invite coworkers to join you

bull Refer candidates from overlookedunderrepresented groups to

open roles throughout your organization

bull Look for local organizations you can partner with ndash perhaps

you can sponsor a hackathon offer an internship or otherwise

support their mission

bull Ask for feedback and suggestions ndash your team might already

have some great ideas about how to prioritize DEampI

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 28

Part 5 For everyone

Creating an inclusive candidate experience to build stronger more diverse teamsEvery person in your company ndash regardless of their job title ndash can

contribute to inclusive hiring Whether theyrsquore making referrals

interviewing candidates or talking to prospects their actions can

have an impact on candidate experience Thatrsquos why itrsquos essential

to be intentional about the role everyone plays

Here are a few ways to create an inclusive candidate experience

Structured hiring

Structured hiring is an approach where selection decisions are

based on evidence not emotion Leaders align the role to a business

objective and build a rigorous and objective interview process

through conversations assignments and the like that can be used to

predict job performance Candidates are asked consistent questions

that connect back to specific attributes required for the role and

interviewers evaluate responses against a defined rating system in

the interview scorecard

In previous sections we covered how hiring managers and recruiters

can partner to implement structured hiring Remember that rolling

it out to your entire company will take time and effort Everyone

involved in the interview process will need to be trained on things

like how to conduct interviews take notes and score candidates

Consider integrating this training into new hire onboarding team

offsites or manager professional development to ensure everyone

stays up to date

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 29

Defining and hiring for culture add

Over the past several years wersquove seen companies move away

from assessing candidates on their ldquoculture fitrdquo because this term

can lead to homogeneous hiring But many companies still want

a way to determine whether candidates are aligned with their values

This is where ldquoculture addrdquo or values interviews can come into play

Culture-add interviews also give candidates the chance to meet

people from other teams and departments to get a broader sense of

your company culture

If culture-add interviews are part of your hiring process (or you want

them to be) yoursquoll want to consider the following

bull Who conducts culture-add interviews What is the selection

process like for identifying these interviewers within your

company and training them

bull Which questions does the culture-add interview cover How do

you define great acceptable and unacceptable answers

bull How often will you revisit and update this process

Hiring Maturity success story Neil Casey ThoughtWorks

In this limited podcast

series Greenhouse

President and Co-

founder Jon Stross sat

down with talent leaders

from leading companies

to discuss their Hiring

Maturity journeys Listen

in as Jon invites Neil

Casey Global Head of

Sourcing and Strategic

Hiring at ThoughtWorks

to discuss building an

inclusive hiring process

at scale

Explore the Greenhouse DEampI feature set

Take structured interviewing to the next level with solutions that enable

recruiters interviewers and hiring managers to operationalize and

scale fairer hiring practices Herersquos a brief overview of the Greenhouse

DEampI feature set

Data collection and reporting ndash Track self-reported applicant

demographic data throughout the hiring funnel (from sourcing

to offer) and measure pass-throughdrop-off rates

In-the-moment interventions ndash Reminders that nudge users to

slow down and avoid instinctive mental shortcuts that arenrsquot

rooted in evidence or tied to job-relevant criteria

Structured decision-making ndash Added guardrails that support

a more objective selection process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 30

Encouraging an inclusive approach to employee referrals

Employee referrals are a great way to get everyone involved in the

hiring process Itrsquos exciting to have a hand in shaping the future of your

company while helping someone in your network land their next role

But certain groups tend to benefit from referrals more than others

which can lead to more homogeneity

The good news is that referrals donrsquot automatically lead to

homogeneous hires according to research by DEampI consultancy

Paradigm They partnered with Pinterest to determine why employee

referrals tend to be homogenous Is it because peoplersquos networks

are truly that homogenous or is it due to pattern-matching bias

(employees are looking around at their coworkers and only thinking

of people who are similar to the existing team) Paradigm found that

when a leader asked employees to be more mindful about diversity

when offering referrals especially people of color and women it made

a tangible impact over the following six weeks So be sure to encourage

employees to consider diversity when making referrals

DonorsChoose takes a data-driven approach to DEampI in their hiring

DonorsChoosersquos challenge Develop a hiring process that aligns with

the organizationrsquos commitment to DEampI in their work in education

DonorsChoose has a high standard for their DEampI hiring efforts and

wanted to intentionally drive a more diverse candidate pool To do so

they had to prioritize gathering better data on diversity in their hiring

pools Without that data conversations between the People and Talent

team and hiring managers felt uninformed and ineffective

DonorsChoose wanted data at their fingertips to drive their DEampI

hiring efforts The Greenhouse DEampI feature set offered them a robust

set of tools Since turning on custom demographic reporting the

DonorsChoose team has seen an improvement and recognized that

now 58 of the candidates who have made it to the face-to-face

interview stage at DonorsChoose have identified as people of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 31

ConclusionWe recommend sitting with these strategies for a few days rather than

immediately jumping into action Take time to reflect on your next

steps and collaborate with your internal partners in order to create the

optimal DEampI hiring strategy for your company

Remember that when it comes to DEampI therersquos no ldquoend staterdquo to arrive

at Wersquore all on the same journey of curiosity listening progress and

discovery

If yoursquod like to do further reading or research on any of the topics we

covered wersquove curated a list of recommended reading for you

We are your partners and allies and stand beside you in this work and

will help you as best we can All of us at Greenhouse are committed to

bringing about lasting change and we will be your partner in creating

a more equitable hiring process so you can build more inclusive

stronger teams

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 32

Recommended reading

DEampI strategy Creating an Effective Diversity and Inclusion

Program

DEampI strategy Hiring Diverse Candidates is Not Enough ndash

Itrsquos About Keeping Them

DEampI strategy Toward a Racially Just Workplace

DEampI strategy Why So Many Organizations Stay White

DEampI strategy Do Your DampI Efforts Include People with

Disabilities

Hiring If Therersquos Only One Woman in Your Candidate

Pool Therersquos Statisically No Chance Shersquoll Be

Hired

Hiring A Data-Driven Approach to Hiring More

Diverse Talent

Hiring How to Alter Your Hiring Practices to Increase

Diversity

Hiring Research How Speech Patterns Lead to

Hiring Bias

Intersectionality Do Your Diversity Efforts Reflect the

Experiences of Women of Color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 33

Recommended reading (continued)

Sourcing Could This Be The Secret To Hiring More

Women And People Of Color

Sourcing Diversity Sourcing Strategy 3 LinkedIn

Search Tips from Boolean Master Glen

Cathey

Sourcing How to increase workplace diversity with

employee referrals

Unconscious bias Managing Unconscious Bias Strategies to

Manage Bias amp Build More Diverse Inclusive

Organizations

Unconscious bias 50 Ways to Fight Bias

Unconscious bias 12 Unconscious Bias Examples and How to

Avoid Them in the Workplace

Unconscious bias Harvard Project Implicit Association Tests

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 34

Greenhouse is the hiring software company

We help businesses be great at hiring through

our powerful hiring approach complete suite of

software and services and large partner ecosystem ndash

so businesses can hire for whatrsquos next

To learn more visit

greenhouseio

Page 21: eBook Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company

Creating attributes

Aim for at least 3ndash6 mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive

focus attributes per category for your scorecards Consider integrating

the SMART (Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-based)

framework to ensure your interviewers are enabled to measure what

matters

Building interview questions

Collaborate with hiring managers to design custom interview questions

for each attribute deemed necessary for success in the role Aligning

these questions to your scorecard focus attributes enables your

interviewers to make informed decisions that can more accurately

predict job performance

Establishing a decision-making framework

After developing your focus attributes and interview questions be sure

to define evaluation expectations for interview teams Ideally each

attribute-aligned question will include a specific rubric that outlines what

interviewers should look for in candidate answers and assessments

You can adapt this scorecard rating system to suit your company

Scorecard essentials for everyone

Scorecards are

fundamental to structured

hiring Consistent

candidate evaluation helps

mitigate interviewer bias

reduce total interview time

and drive a more evidence-

based decision framework

for selecting the right

talent

Herersquos a high-level

overview of scorecard

essentials

Strong yes is an exemplary response that clearly addresses each

element of the question with distinct examples (if appropriate)

Yes is a solid acceptable response that addresses most or all elements

of the question with clear examples

Mixed is an inconclusive response that may partially address the

question but does not provide the interviewer with evidence about the

candidatersquos capabilities A mixed rating does not equate to ldquoI donrsquot

knowrdquo ndash when an interviewer doesnrsquot have enough evidence they

should leave the attribute blank

No is an unacceptable response that ignores most or multiple

elements of the question

Strong no is an extremely unacceptable answer that doesnrsquot address

the question at all andor contains a comment that conflicts with your

companyrsquos culture Beyond that answers may blatantly disparage

others former employers communities etc

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 21

Part 4 For business leaders

Prioritizing DEampIForward-thinking business leaders (like you) are actively focused on

elevating their DEampI practices ndash not only to ensure that their teams

accurately reflect the demographics of their local population but also

to create a work environment that offers equitable opportunities where

people of all identities can thrive

Traditionally business leaders have looked to recruiting teams to

shoulder the work of diversifying the candidates moving through their

hiring pipelines However great business leaders understand that DEampI

is a company-wide commitment starting from the top ndash at Greenhouse

we call this the Talent Maker mindset

In a world where 57 of employees believe their companies should

improve diversity among their internal workforce and 86 of job

seekers actively seek out companies with diverse employee bases

proactively building inclusive hiring practices to allow for a better

diversity of hires isnrsquot just the right thing to do ndash itrsquos the smart thing

to do

McKinsey found that companies in the top quartile for racialethnic and

gender diversity were respectively 35 and 15 more likely to have

financial returns above the national median for their particular industry

That means being great at hiring today is about a lot more than how

quickly you make a hire Itrsquos also about exercising inclusive hiring

practices and having diversity on both sides of the interview process

among your interviewers and your candidates Itrsquos about business

leaders getting involved with DEampI to generate meaningful outcomes

No matter how valiantly a recruiter works to fill the top of a recruiting

funnel with underrepresented candidates if hiring managers donrsquot

similarly prioritize inclusive hiring those candidates will inevitably

leave the funnel ndash whether by choice or through the adverse impact of

unconscious bias

Letrsquos explore some of the ways that Talent Makers can boost DEampI in

their hiring strategies

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 22

Before focusing externally look internally at your own company

Diversifying your team isnrsquot only about bringing in a new hire who can

add a new perspective Itrsquos just as much about creating an environment

that allows that new hire to share their perspective and feel heard

Some leaders may skirt conversations around identity ndash by claiming to

be ldquocolorblindrdquo when it comes to race for example ndash but great leaders

lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each

employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

Ask questions

What does all this mean through the lens of hiring As you start

thinking about how to source underrepresented candidates answer

these questions

bull Why would a candidate from an underrepresented group want to

join your team

bull How would you articulate your commitment to supporting and

advocating for them as a manager

bull If you were releasing a public statement or articulating your

companyrsquos commitment to equity in response toin solidarity

with a societal movement how would you differentiate your

company from other organizations in a way thatrsquos authentic

bull More importantly how will you hold yourself accountable over

time for driving the changes you want to see

Next take a hard look at the demographics of your team Determine

the following

bull Which demographic groups ndash including but not limited to

gender raceethnicity sexual orientation industry experience

seniority education socioeconomic status and ability status ndash

are represented

bull Which groups are you lacking or are underrepresented

bull Look for patterns in the profiles of the people yoursquove hired up to

now ndash do they imply an inclination toward a certain personality

type background set of qualifications or even raceethnicity

bull If so how are you justifying that

Great leaders lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 23

bull Could you inadvertently be screening for privilege (think

preferred schools or degrees) rather than for ability and

potential

Have the conversation

Itrsquos time to invite your team into the conversation This can be the

uncomfortable part especially if yoursquore in an environment that

doesnrsquot have a precedent for such dialogues Actively sharing why

yoursquore prioritizing DEampI will signal its importance to your team help

address any discrepancies and start building the muscle for healthy

conversations on topics like race Yoursquoll also drive new awareness

and behaviors that can have outsized impacts on who you hire by

influencing your interview panels to be more open-minded and provide

better interviewing experiences to underrepresented candidates

Finally collaborate with your people operations or HR team to review

current department demographics based on self-reported employee

data This will lead to informed discussions about which groups to

focus on when diversifying hiring pipelines which ties back to your

goals around having better representation among your employees

Write your job descriptionsjob posts through an inclusive lens

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader

is a job description for a role on your team Itrsquos the first touchpoint

candidates have with your team and it directly impacts who does ndash

and doesnrsquot ndash engage in your interview process

Here are tips on how to make your job descriptions more inclusive ndash

and more attractive to the candidates yoursquore targeting

Identify and rework inherently biased language

Countless job descriptions contain language that is gendered which

can skew your talent pool before you even interact with candidates

Platforms like Textio leverage artificial intelligence to help remove

gender bias business jargon and other phrases that reinforce

stereotypes in written content

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader is a job description for a role on your team

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 24

Describe goals and growth opportunities

Focus on describing the exciting goals and clear objectives of the

job rather than listing day-to-day responsibilities that arenrsquot tied to

outcomes This will not only inspire candidates it will also help them

decide if what theyrsquoll own and learn in your job is aligned with their

career goals

Examples of unintentionally biased language

Masculine-tone

Exhaustive

Enforcement

Fearless

Feminine-tone

Transparent

Catalyst

In touch with

Textio writes ldquoA language pattern is considered gendered if it

statistically changes the proportion of men and women who respond

to a job post containing itrdquo Their research reveals that in jobs where

a man is hired the original job post averages almost twice as many

masculine-tone phrases as feminine In jobs where a woman is hired

Textio finds the exact opposite there are twice as many feminine-tone

phrases as masculine in the job post Here are a few common phrases

that exert this type of bias effect

bull What are the goals and outcomes you want this person to achieve

bull What are the success metrics being tracked and the desired outcomes

bull What does growth look like on your team when someone delivers

quarter over quarter

bull Who will this person be actively collaborating with

Questions to answer in your job description

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 25

Focus on skills over requirements

Carefully consider each requirement yoursquore adding to your job

description Can you shift your focus away from a specific number

of years of work experience or required degrees and move toward

a candidatersquos abilities Could you take it a step further and include

verbiage that encourages candidates to apply even if they might not

have all the necessary qualifications

Get other opinions

Continue to iterate and socialize your job description Share it with

someone whorsquos currently in the role or someone who represents an

underrepresented demographic group to learn if there are better ways to

position the content Incorporating feedback from different perspectives

is key to eliminating unintentional biases in the language

Use structured hiring to mitigate unconscious bias

Now that yoursquove communicated your focus on diversity and published

an inclusive job description you might think most of your work is

behind you After all isnrsquot the process mostly in your recruiterrsquos hands

from here Not just yet Once you have candidates entering your hiring

pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices

will really be put to the test

Consider adding an inclusivity statement

Is your job description unintentionally scaring candidates away

Research shows that women tend to only apply for jobs when they meet

100 of the requirements One way to encourage candidates from

diverse backgrounds to apply is by adding an inclusivity statement to

your list of qualifications Jobs are filled 6 faster when the description

includes an inclusion message or EEO statement Herersquos the Greenhouse

version (itrsquos the last item in the list of qualifications) ldquoYour own unique

talents If you donrsquot meet 100 of the qualifications outlined above tell

us why yoursquod be a great fit for this role in your cover letterrdquo

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 26

Here are a few important things to keep in mind to stay accountable to

your commitment to DEampI

Screen in over screening out

When reviewing resumes use the framework of screening in rather

than screening out While certain jobs will have hard requirements ndash an

engineer might need fluency in a certain coding language to perform in

their job ndash many employers are placing less emphasis on a strict set of

resume qualifications when determining who to move to the next stage

and thinking about how they can invest in training people who have

potential but donrsquot have specific qualifications

When conducting interviews many hiring managers get

understandably nervous when considering candidates from

backgrounds that are not currently represented on their team That

behavior is often grounded in similar-to-me bias and perpetuates

homogeneity Pay close attention to how you and your interviewers

react to historically underrepresented candidates and actively exercise

open-mindedness Your best hire may be the person who is different

from everyone else your team has hired in the past

Use the same criteria

To create an even playing field assess all candidates against the same

hiring criteria that yoursquove determined is necessary for the role which

is the core of structured hiring Similarly make sure each candidate is

answering the same interview questions from your interviewers This

allows your interviewers not only to focus on relevant areas to assess

but also to compare candidates in a data-driven and fair way in the

event yoursquore choosing between several finalists

Diversify your panel

Finally consider your interview panel Which demographic groups are

represented and which are not represented Do you have a panel of all

men Of all the same ethnicity or race Of all millennials If the answer

is yes to any of these scenarios how are you planning to address this

elephant in the room with candidates who identify differently Put

yourself in their shoes and be prepared to clearly explain why creating

a more diverse team is a priority for you

Once you have candidates entering your hiring pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices will really be put to the test

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 27

Measure wins by progress and improvements

If you donrsquot already have an extensive DEampI program at your

organization figuring out where to start can be challenging Who we

are informs everything we do ndash who we hire what we observe where

we live how we communicate ndash and it can be tough to know where to

focus when checking our own potential biases However starting with a

deep reflection of your hiring process is a way to take ownership of your

responsibility as a business leader to prioritize DEampI Your commitment

may not produce immediate results since company demographics

arenrsquot something that can change overnight but your efforts will drive

meaningful and positive change in the long run with respect to who you

hire and advocate for in your company

Own your influence As a leader you have the ability to influence others through your words

and actions Consider the ways you can demonstrate your commitment

to DEampI Here are some ideas to get you started

bull Sponsor an employee resource group and commit to helping

them achieve their goals

bull Attend diversity sourcing events and invite coworkers to join you

bull Refer candidates from overlookedunderrepresented groups to

open roles throughout your organization

bull Look for local organizations you can partner with ndash perhaps

you can sponsor a hackathon offer an internship or otherwise

support their mission

bull Ask for feedback and suggestions ndash your team might already

have some great ideas about how to prioritize DEampI

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 28

Part 5 For everyone

Creating an inclusive candidate experience to build stronger more diverse teamsEvery person in your company ndash regardless of their job title ndash can

contribute to inclusive hiring Whether theyrsquore making referrals

interviewing candidates or talking to prospects their actions can

have an impact on candidate experience Thatrsquos why itrsquos essential

to be intentional about the role everyone plays

Here are a few ways to create an inclusive candidate experience

Structured hiring

Structured hiring is an approach where selection decisions are

based on evidence not emotion Leaders align the role to a business

objective and build a rigorous and objective interview process

through conversations assignments and the like that can be used to

predict job performance Candidates are asked consistent questions

that connect back to specific attributes required for the role and

interviewers evaluate responses against a defined rating system in

the interview scorecard

In previous sections we covered how hiring managers and recruiters

can partner to implement structured hiring Remember that rolling

it out to your entire company will take time and effort Everyone

involved in the interview process will need to be trained on things

like how to conduct interviews take notes and score candidates

Consider integrating this training into new hire onboarding team

offsites or manager professional development to ensure everyone

stays up to date

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 29

Defining and hiring for culture add

Over the past several years wersquove seen companies move away

from assessing candidates on their ldquoculture fitrdquo because this term

can lead to homogeneous hiring But many companies still want

a way to determine whether candidates are aligned with their values

This is where ldquoculture addrdquo or values interviews can come into play

Culture-add interviews also give candidates the chance to meet

people from other teams and departments to get a broader sense of

your company culture

If culture-add interviews are part of your hiring process (or you want

them to be) yoursquoll want to consider the following

bull Who conducts culture-add interviews What is the selection

process like for identifying these interviewers within your

company and training them

bull Which questions does the culture-add interview cover How do

you define great acceptable and unacceptable answers

bull How often will you revisit and update this process

Hiring Maturity success story Neil Casey ThoughtWorks

In this limited podcast

series Greenhouse

President and Co-

founder Jon Stross sat

down with talent leaders

from leading companies

to discuss their Hiring

Maturity journeys Listen

in as Jon invites Neil

Casey Global Head of

Sourcing and Strategic

Hiring at ThoughtWorks

to discuss building an

inclusive hiring process

at scale

Explore the Greenhouse DEampI feature set

Take structured interviewing to the next level with solutions that enable

recruiters interviewers and hiring managers to operationalize and

scale fairer hiring practices Herersquos a brief overview of the Greenhouse

DEampI feature set

Data collection and reporting ndash Track self-reported applicant

demographic data throughout the hiring funnel (from sourcing

to offer) and measure pass-throughdrop-off rates

In-the-moment interventions ndash Reminders that nudge users to

slow down and avoid instinctive mental shortcuts that arenrsquot

rooted in evidence or tied to job-relevant criteria

Structured decision-making ndash Added guardrails that support

a more objective selection process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 30

Encouraging an inclusive approach to employee referrals

Employee referrals are a great way to get everyone involved in the

hiring process Itrsquos exciting to have a hand in shaping the future of your

company while helping someone in your network land their next role

But certain groups tend to benefit from referrals more than others

which can lead to more homogeneity

The good news is that referrals donrsquot automatically lead to

homogeneous hires according to research by DEampI consultancy

Paradigm They partnered with Pinterest to determine why employee

referrals tend to be homogenous Is it because peoplersquos networks

are truly that homogenous or is it due to pattern-matching bias

(employees are looking around at their coworkers and only thinking

of people who are similar to the existing team) Paradigm found that

when a leader asked employees to be more mindful about diversity

when offering referrals especially people of color and women it made

a tangible impact over the following six weeks So be sure to encourage

employees to consider diversity when making referrals

DonorsChoose takes a data-driven approach to DEampI in their hiring

DonorsChoosersquos challenge Develop a hiring process that aligns with

the organizationrsquos commitment to DEampI in their work in education

DonorsChoose has a high standard for their DEampI hiring efforts and

wanted to intentionally drive a more diverse candidate pool To do so

they had to prioritize gathering better data on diversity in their hiring

pools Without that data conversations between the People and Talent

team and hiring managers felt uninformed and ineffective

DonorsChoose wanted data at their fingertips to drive their DEampI

hiring efforts The Greenhouse DEampI feature set offered them a robust

set of tools Since turning on custom demographic reporting the

DonorsChoose team has seen an improvement and recognized that

now 58 of the candidates who have made it to the face-to-face

interview stage at DonorsChoose have identified as people of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 31

ConclusionWe recommend sitting with these strategies for a few days rather than

immediately jumping into action Take time to reflect on your next

steps and collaborate with your internal partners in order to create the

optimal DEampI hiring strategy for your company

Remember that when it comes to DEampI therersquos no ldquoend staterdquo to arrive

at Wersquore all on the same journey of curiosity listening progress and

discovery

If yoursquod like to do further reading or research on any of the topics we

covered wersquove curated a list of recommended reading for you

We are your partners and allies and stand beside you in this work and

will help you as best we can All of us at Greenhouse are committed to

bringing about lasting change and we will be your partner in creating

a more equitable hiring process so you can build more inclusive

stronger teams

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 32

Recommended reading

DEampI strategy Creating an Effective Diversity and Inclusion

Program

DEampI strategy Hiring Diverse Candidates is Not Enough ndash

Itrsquos About Keeping Them

DEampI strategy Toward a Racially Just Workplace

DEampI strategy Why So Many Organizations Stay White

DEampI strategy Do Your DampI Efforts Include People with

Disabilities

Hiring If Therersquos Only One Woman in Your Candidate

Pool Therersquos Statisically No Chance Shersquoll Be

Hired

Hiring A Data-Driven Approach to Hiring More

Diverse Talent

Hiring How to Alter Your Hiring Practices to Increase

Diversity

Hiring Research How Speech Patterns Lead to

Hiring Bias

Intersectionality Do Your Diversity Efforts Reflect the

Experiences of Women of Color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 33

Recommended reading (continued)

Sourcing Could This Be The Secret To Hiring More

Women And People Of Color

Sourcing Diversity Sourcing Strategy 3 LinkedIn

Search Tips from Boolean Master Glen

Cathey

Sourcing How to increase workplace diversity with

employee referrals

Unconscious bias Managing Unconscious Bias Strategies to

Manage Bias amp Build More Diverse Inclusive

Organizations

Unconscious bias 50 Ways to Fight Bias

Unconscious bias 12 Unconscious Bias Examples and How to

Avoid Them in the Workplace

Unconscious bias Harvard Project Implicit Association Tests

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 34

Greenhouse is the hiring software company

We help businesses be great at hiring through

our powerful hiring approach complete suite of

software and services and large partner ecosystem ndash

so businesses can hire for whatrsquos next

To learn more visit

greenhouseio

Page 22: eBook Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company

Part 4 For business leaders

Prioritizing DEampIForward-thinking business leaders (like you) are actively focused on

elevating their DEampI practices ndash not only to ensure that their teams

accurately reflect the demographics of their local population but also

to create a work environment that offers equitable opportunities where

people of all identities can thrive

Traditionally business leaders have looked to recruiting teams to

shoulder the work of diversifying the candidates moving through their

hiring pipelines However great business leaders understand that DEampI

is a company-wide commitment starting from the top ndash at Greenhouse

we call this the Talent Maker mindset

In a world where 57 of employees believe their companies should

improve diversity among their internal workforce and 86 of job

seekers actively seek out companies with diverse employee bases

proactively building inclusive hiring practices to allow for a better

diversity of hires isnrsquot just the right thing to do ndash itrsquos the smart thing

to do

McKinsey found that companies in the top quartile for racialethnic and

gender diversity were respectively 35 and 15 more likely to have

financial returns above the national median for their particular industry

That means being great at hiring today is about a lot more than how

quickly you make a hire Itrsquos also about exercising inclusive hiring

practices and having diversity on both sides of the interview process

among your interviewers and your candidates Itrsquos about business

leaders getting involved with DEampI to generate meaningful outcomes

No matter how valiantly a recruiter works to fill the top of a recruiting

funnel with underrepresented candidates if hiring managers donrsquot

similarly prioritize inclusive hiring those candidates will inevitably

leave the funnel ndash whether by choice or through the adverse impact of

unconscious bias

Letrsquos explore some of the ways that Talent Makers can boost DEampI in

their hiring strategies

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 22

Before focusing externally look internally at your own company

Diversifying your team isnrsquot only about bringing in a new hire who can

add a new perspective Itrsquos just as much about creating an environment

that allows that new hire to share their perspective and feel heard

Some leaders may skirt conversations around identity ndash by claiming to

be ldquocolorblindrdquo when it comes to race for example ndash but great leaders

lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each

employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

Ask questions

What does all this mean through the lens of hiring As you start

thinking about how to source underrepresented candidates answer

these questions

bull Why would a candidate from an underrepresented group want to

join your team

bull How would you articulate your commitment to supporting and

advocating for them as a manager

bull If you were releasing a public statement or articulating your

companyrsquos commitment to equity in response toin solidarity

with a societal movement how would you differentiate your

company from other organizations in a way thatrsquos authentic

bull More importantly how will you hold yourself accountable over

time for driving the changes you want to see

Next take a hard look at the demographics of your team Determine

the following

bull Which demographic groups ndash including but not limited to

gender raceethnicity sexual orientation industry experience

seniority education socioeconomic status and ability status ndash

are represented

bull Which groups are you lacking or are underrepresented

bull Look for patterns in the profiles of the people yoursquove hired up to

now ndash do they imply an inclination toward a certain personality

type background set of qualifications or even raceethnicity

bull If so how are you justifying that

Great leaders lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 23

bull Could you inadvertently be screening for privilege (think

preferred schools or degrees) rather than for ability and

potential

Have the conversation

Itrsquos time to invite your team into the conversation This can be the

uncomfortable part especially if yoursquore in an environment that

doesnrsquot have a precedent for such dialogues Actively sharing why

yoursquore prioritizing DEampI will signal its importance to your team help

address any discrepancies and start building the muscle for healthy

conversations on topics like race Yoursquoll also drive new awareness

and behaviors that can have outsized impacts on who you hire by

influencing your interview panels to be more open-minded and provide

better interviewing experiences to underrepresented candidates

Finally collaborate with your people operations or HR team to review

current department demographics based on self-reported employee

data This will lead to informed discussions about which groups to

focus on when diversifying hiring pipelines which ties back to your

goals around having better representation among your employees

Write your job descriptionsjob posts through an inclusive lens

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader

is a job description for a role on your team Itrsquos the first touchpoint

candidates have with your team and it directly impacts who does ndash

and doesnrsquot ndash engage in your interview process

Here are tips on how to make your job descriptions more inclusive ndash

and more attractive to the candidates yoursquore targeting

Identify and rework inherently biased language

Countless job descriptions contain language that is gendered which

can skew your talent pool before you even interact with candidates

Platforms like Textio leverage artificial intelligence to help remove

gender bias business jargon and other phrases that reinforce

stereotypes in written content

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader is a job description for a role on your team

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 24

Describe goals and growth opportunities

Focus on describing the exciting goals and clear objectives of the

job rather than listing day-to-day responsibilities that arenrsquot tied to

outcomes This will not only inspire candidates it will also help them

decide if what theyrsquoll own and learn in your job is aligned with their

career goals

Examples of unintentionally biased language

Masculine-tone

Exhaustive

Enforcement

Fearless

Feminine-tone

Transparent

Catalyst

In touch with

Textio writes ldquoA language pattern is considered gendered if it

statistically changes the proportion of men and women who respond

to a job post containing itrdquo Their research reveals that in jobs where

a man is hired the original job post averages almost twice as many

masculine-tone phrases as feminine In jobs where a woman is hired

Textio finds the exact opposite there are twice as many feminine-tone

phrases as masculine in the job post Here are a few common phrases

that exert this type of bias effect

bull What are the goals and outcomes you want this person to achieve

bull What are the success metrics being tracked and the desired outcomes

bull What does growth look like on your team when someone delivers

quarter over quarter

bull Who will this person be actively collaborating with

Questions to answer in your job description

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 25

Focus on skills over requirements

Carefully consider each requirement yoursquore adding to your job

description Can you shift your focus away from a specific number

of years of work experience or required degrees and move toward

a candidatersquos abilities Could you take it a step further and include

verbiage that encourages candidates to apply even if they might not

have all the necessary qualifications

Get other opinions

Continue to iterate and socialize your job description Share it with

someone whorsquos currently in the role or someone who represents an

underrepresented demographic group to learn if there are better ways to

position the content Incorporating feedback from different perspectives

is key to eliminating unintentional biases in the language

Use structured hiring to mitigate unconscious bias

Now that yoursquove communicated your focus on diversity and published

an inclusive job description you might think most of your work is

behind you After all isnrsquot the process mostly in your recruiterrsquos hands

from here Not just yet Once you have candidates entering your hiring

pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices

will really be put to the test

Consider adding an inclusivity statement

Is your job description unintentionally scaring candidates away

Research shows that women tend to only apply for jobs when they meet

100 of the requirements One way to encourage candidates from

diverse backgrounds to apply is by adding an inclusivity statement to

your list of qualifications Jobs are filled 6 faster when the description

includes an inclusion message or EEO statement Herersquos the Greenhouse

version (itrsquos the last item in the list of qualifications) ldquoYour own unique

talents If you donrsquot meet 100 of the qualifications outlined above tell

us why yoursquod be a great fit for this role in your cover letterrdquo

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 26

Here are a few important things to keep in mind to stay accountable to

your commitment to DEampI

Screen in over screening out

When reviewing resumes use the framework of screening in rather

than screening out While certain jobs will have hard requirements ndash an

engineer might need fluency in a certain coding language to perform in

their job ndash many employers are placing less emphasis on a strict set of

resume qualifications when determining who to move to the next stage

and thinking about how they can invest in training people who have

potential but donrsquot have specific qualifications

When conducting interviews many hiring managers get

understandably nervous when considering candidates from

backgrounds that are not currently represented on their team That

behavior is often grounded in similar-to-me bias and perpetuates

homogeneity Pay close attention to how you and your interviewers

react to historically underrepresented candidates and actively exercise

open-mindedness Your best hire may be the person who is different

from everyone else your team has hired in the past

Use the same criteria

To create an even playing field assess all candidates against the same

hiring criteria that yoursquove determined is necessary for the role which

is the core of structured hiring Similarly make sure each candidate is

answering the same interview questions from your interviewers This

allows your interviewers not only to focus on relevant areas to assess

but also to compare candidates in a data-driven and fair way in the

event yoursquore choosing between several finalists

Diversify your panel

Finally consider your interview panel Which demographic groups are

represented and which are not represented Do you have a panel of all

men Of all the same ethnicity or race Of all millennials If the answer

is yes to any of these scenarios how are you planning to address this

elephant in the room with candidates who identify differently Put

yourself in their shoes and be prepared to clearly explain why creating

a more diverse team is a priority for you

Once you have candidates entering your hiring pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices will really be put to the test

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 27

Measure wins by progress and improvements

If you donrsquot already have an extensive DEampI program at your

organization figuring out where to start can be challenging Who we

are informs everything we do ndash who we hire what we observe where

we live how we communicate ndash and it can be tough to know where to

focus when checking our own potential biases However starting with a

deep reflection of your hiring process is a way to take ownership of your

responsibility as a business leader to prioritize DEampI Your commitment

may not produce immediate results since company demographics

arenrsquot something that can change overnight but your efforts will drive

meaningful and positive change in the long run with respect to who you

hire and advocate for in your company

Own your influence As a leader you have the ability to influence others through your words

and actions Consider the ways you can demonstrate your commitment

to DEampI Here are some ideas to get you started

bull Sponsor an employee resource group and commit to helping

them achieve their goals

bull Attend diversity sourcing events and invite coworkers to join you

bull Refer candidates from overlookedunderrepresented groups to

open roles throughout your organization

bull Look for local organizations you can partner with ndash perhaps

you can sponsor a hackathon offer an internship or otherwise

support their mission

bull Ask for feedback and suggestions ndash your team might already

have some great ideas about how to prioritize DEampI

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 28

Part 5 For everyone

Creating an inclusive candidate experience to build stronger more diverse teamsEvery person in your company ndash regardless of their job title ndash can

contribute to inclusive hiring Whether theyrsquore making referrals

interviewing candidates or talking to prospects their actions can

have an impact on candidate experience Thatrsquos why itrsquos essential

to be intentional about the role everyone plays

Here are a few ways to create an inclusive candidate experience

Structured hiring

Structured hiring is an approach where selection decisions are

based on evidence not emotion Leaders align the role to a business

objective and build a rigorous and objective interview process

through conversations assignments and the like that can be used to

predict job performance Candidates are asked consistent questions

that connect back to specific attributes required for the role and

interviewers evaluate responses against a defined rating system in

the interview scorecard

In previous sections we covered how hiring managers and recruiters

can partner to implement structured hiring Remember that rolling

it out to your entire company will take time and effort Everyone

involved in the interview process will need to be trained on things

like how to conduct interviews take notes and score candidates

Consider integrating this training into new hire onboarding team

offsites or manager professional development to ensure everyone

stays up to date

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 29

Defining and hiring for culture add

Over the past several years wersquove seen companies move away

from assessing candidates on their ldquoculture fitrdquo because this term

can lead to homogeneous hiring But many companies still want

a way to determine whether candidates are aligned with their values

This is where ldquoculture addrdquo or values interviews can come into play

Culture-add interviews also give candidates the chance to meet

people from other teams and departments to get a broader sense of

your company culture

If culture-add interviews are part of your hiring process (or you want

them to be) yoursquoll want to consider the following

bull Who conducts culture-add interviews What is the selection

process like for identifying these interviewers within your

company and training them

bull Which questions does the culture-add interview cover How do

you define great acceptable and unacceptable answers

bull How often will you revisit and update this process

Hiring Maturity success story Neil Casey ThoughtWorks

In this limited podcast

series Greenhouse

President and Co-

founder Jon Stross sat

down with talent leaders

from leading companies

to discuss their Hiring

Maturity journeys Listen

in as Jon invites Neil

Casey Global Head of

Sourcing and Strategic

Hiring at ThoughtWorks

to discuss building an

inclusive hiring process

at scale

Explore the Greenhouse DEampI feature set

Take structured interviewing to the next level with solutions that enable

recruiters interviewers and hiring managers to operationalize and

scale fairer hiring practices Herersquos a brief overview of the Greenhouse

DEampI feature set

Data collection and reporting ndash Track self-reported applicant

demographic data throughout the hiring funnel (from sourcing

to offer) and measure pass-throughdrop-off rates

In-the-moment interventions ndash Reminders that nudge users to

slow down and avoid instinctive mental shortcuts that arenrsquot

rooted in evidence or tied to job-relevant criteria

Structured decision-making ndash Added guardrails that support

a more objective selection process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 30

Encouraging an inclusive approach to employee referrals

Employee referrals are a great way to get everyone involved in the

hiring process Itrsquos exciting to have a hand in shaping the future of your

company while helping someone in your network land their next role

But certain groups tend to benefit from referrals more than others

which can lead to more homogeneity

The good news is that referrals donrsquot automatically lead to

homogeneous hires according to research by DEampI consultancy

Paradigm They partnered with Pinterest to determine why employee

referrals tend to be homogenous Is it because peoplersquos networks

are truly that homogenous or is it due to pattern-matching bias

(employees are looking around at their coworkers and only thinking

of people who are similar to the existing team) Paradigm found that

when a leader asked employees to be more mindful about diversity

when offering referrals especially people of color and women it made

a tangible impact over the following six weeks So be sure to encourage

employees to consider diversity when making referrals

DonorsChoose takes a data-driven approach to DEampI in their hiring

DonorsChoosersquos challenge Develop a hiring process that aligns with

the organizationrsquos commitment to DEampI in their work in education

DonorsChoose has a high standard for their DEampI hiring efforts and

wanted to intentionally drive a more diverse candidate pool To do so

they had to prioritize gathering better data on diversity in their hiring

pools Without that data conversations between the People and Talent

team and hiring managers felt uninformed and ineffective

DonorsChoose wanted data at their fingertips to drive their DEampI

hiring efforts The Greenhouse DEampI feature set offered them a robust

set of tools Since turning on custom demographic reporting the

DonorsChoose team has seen an improvement and recognized that

now 58 of the candidates who have made it to the face-to-face

interview stage at DonorsChoose have identified as people of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 31

ConclusionWe recommend sitting with these strategies for a few days rather than

immediately jumping into action Take time to reflect on your next

steps and collaborate with your internal partners in order to create the

optimal DEampI hiring strategy for your company

Remember that when it comes to DEampI therersquos no ldquoend staterdquo to arrive

at Wersquore all on the same journey of curiosity listening progress and

discovery

If yoursquod like to do further reading or research on any of the topics we

covered wersquove curated a list of recommended reading for you

We are your partners and allies and stand beside you in this work and

will help you as best we can All of us at Greenhouse are committed to

bringing about lasting change and we will be your partner in creating

a more equitable hiring process so you can build more inclusive

stronger teams

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 32

Recommended reading

DEampI strategy Creating an Effective Diversity and Inclusion

Program

DEampI strategy Hiring Diverse Candidates is Not Enough ndash

Itrsquos About Keeping Them

DEampI strategy Toward a Racially Just Workplace

DEampI strategy Why So Many Organizations Stay White

DEampI strategy Do Your DampI Efforts Include People with

Disabilities

Hiring If Therersquos Only One Woman in Your Candidate

Pool Therersquos Statisically No Chance Shersquoll Be

Hired

Hiring A Data-Driven Approach to Hiring More

Diverse Talent

Hiring How to Alter Your Hiring Practices to Increase

Diversity

Hiring Research How Speech Patterns Lead to

Hiring Bias

Intersectionality Do Your Diversity Efforts Reflect the

Experiences of Women of Color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 33

Recommended reading (continued)

Sourcing Could This Be The Secret To Hiring More

Women And People Of Color

Sourcing Diversity Sourcing Strategy 3 LinkedIn

Search Tips from Boolean Master Glen

Cathey

Sourcing How to increase workplace diversity with

employee referrals

Unconscious bias Managing Unconscious Bias Strategies to

Manage Bias amp Build More Diverse Inclusive

Organizations

Unconscious bias 50 Ways to Fight Bias

Unconscious bias 12 Unconscious Bias Examples and How to

Avoid Them in the Workplace

Unconscious bias Harvard Project Implicit Association Tests

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 34

Greenhouse is the hiring software company

We help businesses be great at hiring through

our powerful hiring approach complete suite of

software and services and large partner ecosystem ndash

so businesses can hire for whatrsquos next

To learn more visit

greenhouseio

Page 23: eBook Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company

Before focusing externally look internally at your own company

Diversifying your team isnrsquot only about bringing in a new hire who can

add a new perspective Itrsquos just as much about creating an environment

that allows that new hire to share their perspective and feel heard

Some leaders may skirt conversations around identity ndash by claiming to

be ldquocolorblindrdquo when it comes to race for example ndash but great leaders

lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each

employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

Ask questions

What does all this mean through the lens of hiring As you start

thinking about how to source underrepresented candidates answer

these questions

bull Why would a candidate from an underrepresented group want to

join your team

bull How would you articulate your commitment to supporting and

advocating for them as a manager

bull If you were releasing a public statement or articulating your

companyrsquos commitment to equity in response toin solidarity

with a societal movement how would you differentiate your

company from other organizations in a way thatrsquos authentic

bull More importantly how will you hold yourself accountable over

time for driving the changes you want to see

Next take a hard look at the demographics of your team Determine

the following

bull Which demographic groups ndash including but not limited to

gender raceethnicity sexual orientation industry experience

seniority education socioeconomic status and ability status ndash

are represented

bull Which groups are you lacking or are underrepresented

bull Look for patterns in the profiles of the people yoursquove hired up to

now ndash do they imply an inclination toward a certain personality

type background set of qualifications or even raceethnicity

bull If so how are you justifying that

Great leaders lean into color consciousness and create spaces to celebrate each employeersquos experience and unique intersectionalities

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 23

bull Could you inadvertently be screening for privilege (think

preferred schools or degrees) rather than for ability and

potential

Have the conversation

Itrsquos time to invite your team into the conversation This can be the

uncomfortable part especially if yoursquore in an environment that

doesnrsquot have a precedent for such dialogues Actively sharing why

yoursquore prioritizing DEampI will signal its importance to your team help

address any discrepancies and start building the muscle for healthy

conversations on topics like race Yoursquoll also drive new awareness

and behaviors that can have outsized impacts on who you hire by

influencing your interview panels to be more open-minded and provide

better interviewing experiences to underrepresented candidates

Finally collaborate with your people operations or HR team to review

current department demographics based on self-reported employee

data This will lead to informed discussions about which groups to

focus on when diversifying hiring pipelines which ties back to your

goals around having better representation among your employees

Write your job descriptionsjob posts through an inclusive lens

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader

is a job description for a role on your team Itrsquos the first touchpoint

candidates have with your team and it directly impacts who does ndash

and doesnrsquot ndash engage in your interview process

Here are tips on how to make your job descriptions more inclusive ndash

and more attractive to the candidates yoursquore targeting

Identify and rework inherently biased language

Countless job descriptions contain language that is gendered which

can skew your talent pool before you even interact with candidates

Platforms like Textio leverage artificial intelligence to help remove

gender bias business jargon and other phrases that reinforce

stereotypes in written content

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader is a job description for a role on your team

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 24

Describe goals and growth opportunities

Focus on describing the exciting goals and clear objectives of the

job rather than listing day-to-day responsibilities that arenrsquot tied to

outcomes This will not only inspire candidates it will also help them

decide if what theyrsquoll own and learn in your job is aligned with their

career goals

Examples of unintentionally biased language

Masculine-tone

Exhaustive

Enforcement

Fearless

Feminine-tone

Transparent

Catalyst

In touch with

Textio writes ldquoA language pattern is considered gendered if it

statistically changes the proportion of men and women who respond

to a job post containing itrdquo Their research reveals that in jobs where

a man is hired the original job post averages almost twice as many

masculine-tone phrases as feminine In jobs where a woman is hired

Textio finds the exact opposite there are twice as many feminine-tone

phrases as masculine in the job post Here are a few common phrases

that exert this type of bias effect

bull What are the goals and outcomes you want this person to achieve

bull What are the success metrics being tracked and the desired outcomes

bull What does growth look like on your team when someone delivers

quarter over quarter

bull Who will this person be actively collaborating with

Questions to answer in your job description

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 25

Focus on skills over requirements

Carefully consider each requirement yoursquore adding to your job

description Can you shift your focus away from a specific number

of years of work experience or required degrees and move toward

a candidatersquos abilities Could you take it a step further and include

verbiage that encourages candidates to apply even if they might not

have all the necessary qualifications

Get other opinions

Continue to iterate and socialize your job description Share it with

someone whorsquos currently in the role or someone who represents an

underrepresented demographic group to learn if there are better ways to

position the content Incorporating feedback from different perspectives

is key to eliminating unintentional biases in the language

Use structured hiring to mitigate unconscious bias

Now that yoursquove communicated your focus on diversity and published

an inclusive job description you might think most of your work is

behind you After all isnrsquot the process mostly in your recruiterrsquos hands

from here Not just yet Once you have candidates entering your hiring

pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices

will really be put to the test

Consider adding an inclusivity statement

Is your job description unintentionally scaring candidates away

Research shows that women tend to only apply for jobs when they meet

100 of the requirements One way to encourage candidates from

diverse backgrounds to apply is by adding an inclusivity statement to

your list of qualifications Jobs are filled 6 faster when the description

includes an inclusion message or EEO statement Herersquos the Greenhouse

version (itrsquos the last item in the list of qualifications) ldquoYour own unique

talents If you donrsquot meet 100 of the qualifications outlined above tell

us why yoursquod be a great fit for this role in your cover letterrdquo

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 26

Here are a few important things to keep in mind to stay accountable to

your commitment to DEampI

Screen in over screening out

When reviewing resumes use the framework of screening in rather

than screening out While certain jobs will have hard requirements ndash an

engineer might need fluency in a certain coding language to perform in

their job ndash many employers are placing less emphasis on a strict set of

resume qualifications when determining who to move to the next stage

and thinking about how they can invest in training people who have

potential but donrsquot have specific qualifications

When conducting interviews many hiring managers get

understandably nervous when considering candidates from

backgrounds that are not currently represented on their team That

behavior is often grounded in similar-to-me bias and perpetuates

homogeneity Pay close attention to how you and your interviewers

react to historically underrepresented candidates and actively exercise

open-mindedness Your best hire may be the person who is different

from everyone else your team has hired in the past

Use the same criteria

To create an even playing field assess all candidates against the same

hiring criteria that yoursquove determined is necessary for the role which

is the core of structured hiring Similarly make sure each candidate is

answering the same interview questions from your interviewers This

allows your interviewers not only to focus on relevant areas to assess

but also to compare candidates in a data-driven and fair way in the

event yoursquore choosing between several finalists

Diversify your panel

Finally consider your interview panel Which demographic groups are

represented and which are not represented Do you have a panel of all

men Of all the same ethnicity or race Of all millennials If the answer

is yes to any of these scenarios how are you planning to address this

elephant in the room with candidates who identify differently Put

yourself in their shoes and be prepared to clearly explain why creating

a more diverse team is a priority for you

Once you have candidates entering your hiring pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices will really be put to the test

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 27

Measure wins by progress and improvements

If you donrsquot already have an extensive DEampI program at your

organization figuring out where to start can be challenging Who we

are informs everything we do ndash who we hire what we observe where

we live how we communicate ndash and it can be tough to know where to

focus when checking our own potential biases However starting with a

deep reflection of your hiring process is a way to take ownership of your

responsibility as a business leader to prioritize DEampI Your commitment

may not produce immediate results since company demographics

arenrsquot something that can change overnight but your efforts will drive

meaningful and positive change in the long run with respect to who you

hire and advocate for in your company

Own your influence As a leader you have the ability to influence others through your words

and actions Consider the ways you can demonstrate your commitment

to DEampI Here are some ideas to get you started

bull Sponsor an employee resource group and commit to helping

them achieve their goals

bull Attend diversity sourcing events and invite coworkers to join you

bull Refer candidates from overlookedunderrepresented groups to

open roles throughout your organization

bull Look for local organizations you can partner with ndash perhaps

you can sponsor a hackathon offer an internship or otherwise

support their mission

bull Ask for feedback and suggestions ndash your team might already

have some great ideas about how to prioritize DEampI

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 28

Part 5 For everyone

Creating an inclusive candidate experience to build stronger more diverse teamsEvery person in your company ndash regardless of their job title ndash can

contribute to inclusive hiring Whether theyrsquore making referrals

interviewing candidates or talking to prospects their actions can

have an impact on candidate experience Thatrsquos why itrsquos essential

to be intentional about the role everyone plays

Here are a few ways to create an inclusive candidate experience

Structured hiring

Structured hiring is an approach where selection decisions are

based on evidence not emotion Leaders align the role to a business

objective and build a rigorous and objective interview process

through conversations assignments and the like that can be used to

predict job performance Candidates are asked consistent questions

that connect back to specific attributes required for the role and

interviewers evaluate responses against a defined rating system in

the interview scorecard

In previous sections we covered how hiring managers and recruiters

can partner to implement structured hiring Remember that rolling

it out to your entire company will take time and effort Everyone

involved in the interview process will need to be trained on things

like how to conduct interviews take notes and score candidates

Consider integrating this training into new hire onboarding team

offsites or manager professional development to ensure everyone

stays up to date

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 29

Defining and hiring for culture add

Over the past several years wersquove seen companies move away

from assessing candidates on their ldquoculture fitrdquo because this term

can lead to homogeneous hiring But many companies still want

a way to determine whether candidates are aligned with their values

This is where ldquoculture addrdquo or values interviews can come into play

Culture-add interviews also give candidates the chance to meet

people from other teams and departments to get a broader sense of

your company culture

If culture-add interviews are part of your hiring process (or you want

them to be) yoursquoll want to consider the following

bull Who conducts culture-add interviews What is the selection

process like for identifying these interviewers within your

company and training them

bull Which questions does the culture-add interview cover How do

you define great acceptable and unacceptable answers

bull How often will you revisit and update this process

Hiring Maturity success story Neil Casey ThoughtWorks

In this limited podcast

series Greenhouse

President and Co-

founder Jon Stross sat

down with talent leaders

from leading companies

to discuss their Hiring

Maturity journeys Listen

in as Jon invites Neil

Casey Global Head of

Sourcing and Strategic

Hiring at ThoughtWorks

to discuss building an

inclusive hiring process

at scale

Explore the Greenhouse DEampI feature set

Take structured interviewing to the next level with solutions that enable

recruiters interviewers and hiring managers to operationalize and

scale fairer hiring practices Herersquos a brief overview of the Greenhouse

DEampI feature set

Data collection and reporting ndash Track self-reported applicant

demographic data throughout the hiring funnel (from sourcing

to offer) and measure pass-throughdrop-off rates

In-the-moment interventions ndash Reminders that nudge users to

slow down and avoid instinctive mental shortcuts that arenrsquot

rooted in evidence or tied to job-relevant criteria

Structured decision-making ndash Added guardrails that support

a more objective selection process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 30

Encouraging an inclusive approach to employee referrals

Employee referrals are a great way to get everyone involved in the

hiring process Itrsquos exciting to have a hand in shaping the future of your

company while helping someone in your network land their next role

But certain groups tend to benefit from referrals more than others

which can lead to more homogeneity

The good news is that referrals donrsquot automatically lead to

homogeneous hires according to research by DEampI consultancy

Paradigm They partnered with Pinterest to determine why employee

referrals tend to be homogenous Is it because peoplersquos networks

are truly that homogenous or is it due to pattern-matching bias

(employees are looking around at their coworkers and only thinking

of people who are similar to the existing team) Paradigm found that

when a leader asked employees to be more mindful about diversity

when offering referrals especially people of color and women it made

a tangible impact over the following six weeks So be sure to encourage

employees to consider diversity when making referrals

DonorsChoose takes a data-driven approach to DEampI in their hiring

DonorsChoosersquos challenge Develop a hiring process that aligns with

the organizationrsquos commitment to DEampI in their work in education

DonorsChoose has a high standard for their DEampI hiring efforts and

wanted to intentionally drive a more diverse candidate pool To do so

they had to prioritize gathering better data on diversity in their hiring

pools Without that data conversations between the People and Talent

team and hiring managers felt uninformed and ineffective

DonorsChoose wanted data at their fingertips to drive their DEampI

hiring efforts The Greenhouse DEampI feature set offered them a robust

set of tools Since turning on custom demographic reporting the

DonorsChoose team has seen an improvement and recognized that

now 58 of the candidates who have made it to the face-to-face

interview stage at DonorsChoose have identified as people of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 31

ConclusionWe recommend sitting with these strategies for a few days rather than

immediately jumping into action Take time to reflect on your next

steps and collaborate with your internal partners in order to create the

optimal DEampI hiring strategy for your company

Remember that when it comes to DEampI therersquos no ldquoend staterdquo to arrive

at Wersquore all on the same journey of curiosity listening progress and

discovery

If yoursquod like to do further reading or research on any of the topics we

covered wersquove curated a list of recommended reading for you

We are your partners and allies and stand beside you in this work and

will help you as best we can All of us at Greenhouse are committed to

bringing about lasting change and we will be your partner in creating

a more equitable hiring process so you can build more inclusive

stronger teams

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 32

Recommended reading

DEampI strategy Creating an Effective Diversity and Inclusion

Program

DEampI strategy Hiring Diverse Candidates is Not Enough ndash

Itrsquos About Keeping Them

DEampI strategy Toward a Racially Just Workplace

DEampI strategy Why So Many Organizations Stay White

DEampI strategy Do Your DampI Efforts Include People with

Disabilities

Hiring If Therersquos Only One Woman in Your Candidate

Pool Therersquos Statisically No Chance Shersquoll Be

Hired

Hiring A Data-Driven Approach to Hiring More

Diverse Talent

Hiring How to Alter Your Hiring Practices to Increase

Diversity

Hiring Research How Speech Patterns Lead to

Hiring Bias

Intersectionality Do Your Diversity Efforts Reflect the

Experiences of Women of Color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 33

Recommended reading (continued)

Sourcing Could This Be The Secret To Hiring More

Women And People Of Color

Sourcing Diversity Sourcing Strategy 3 LinkedIn

Search Tips from Boolean Master Glen

Cathey

Sourcing How to increase workplace diversity with

employee referrals

Unconscious bias Managing Unconscious Bias Strategies to

Manage Bias amp Build More Diverse Inclusive

Organizations

Unconscious bias 50 Ways to Fight Bias

Unconscious bias 12 Unconscious Bias Examples and How to

Avoid Them in the Workplace

Unconscious bias Harvard Project Implicit Association Tests

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 34

Greenhouse is the hiring software company

We help businesses be great at hiring through

our powerful hiring approach complete suite of

software and services and large partner ecosystem ndash

so businesses can hire for whatrsquos next

To learn more visit

greenhouseio

Page 24: eBook Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company

bull Could you inadvertently be screening for privilege (think

preferred schools or degrees) rather than for ability and

potential

Have the conversation

Itrsquos time to invite your team into the conversation This can be the

uncomfortable part especially if yoursquore in an environment that

doesnrsquot have a precedent for such dialogues Actively sharing why

yoursquore prioritizing DEampI will signal its importance to your team help

address any discrepancies and start building the muscle for healthy

conversations on topics like race Yoursquoll also drive new awareness

and behaviors that can have outsized impacts on who you hire by

influencing your interview panels to be more open-minded and provide

better interviewing experiences to underrepresented candidates

Finally collaborate with your people operations or HR team to review

current department demographics based on self-reported employee

data This will lead to informed discussions about which groups to

focus on when diversifying hiring pipelines which ties back to your

goals around having better representation among your employees

Write your job descriptionsjob posts through an inclusive lens

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader

is a job description for a role on your team Itrsquos the first touchpoint

candidates have with your team and it directly impacts who does ndash

and doesnrsquot ndash engage in your interview process

Here are tips on how to make your job descriptions more inclusive ndash

and more attractive to the candidates yoursquore targeting

Identify and rework inherently biased language

Countless job descriptions contain language that is gendered which

can skew your talent pool before you even interact with candidates

Platforms like Textio leverage artificial intelligence to help remove

gender bias business jargon and other phrases that reinforce

stereotypes in written content

One of the most important pieces of content yoursquoll author as a leader is a job description for a role on your team

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 24

Describe goals and growth opportunities

Focus on describing the exciting goals and clear objectives of the

job rather than listing day-to-day responsibilities that arenrsquot tied to

outcomes This will not only inspire candidates it will also help them

decide if what theyrsquoll own and learn in your job is aligned with their

career goals

Examples of unintentionally biased language

Masculine-tone

Exhaustive

Enforcement

Fearless

Feminine-tone

Transparent

Catalyst

In touch with

Textio writes ldquoA language pattern is considered gendered if it

statistically changes the proportion of men and women who respond

to a job post containing itrdquo Their research reveals that in jobs where

a man is hired the original job post averages almost twice as many

masculine-tone phrases as feminine In jobs where a woman is hired

Textio finds the exact opposite there are twice as many feminine-tone

phrases as masculine in the job post Here are a few common phrases

that exert this type of bias effect

bull What are the goals and outcomes you want this person to achieve

bull What are the success metrics being tracked and the desired outcomes

bull What does growth look like on your team when someone delivers

quarter over quarter

bull Who will this person be actively collaborating with

Questions to answer in your job description

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 25

Focus on skills over requirements

Carefully consider each requirement yoursquore adding to your job

description Can you shift your focus away from a specific number

of years of work experience or required degrees and move toward

a candidatersquos abilities Could you take it a step further and include

verbiage that encourages candidates to apply even if they might not

have all the necessary qualifications

Get other opinions

Continue to iterate and socialize your job description Share it with

someone whorsquos currently in the role or someone who represents an

underrepresented demographic group to learn if there are better ways to

position the content Incorporating feedback from different perspectives

is key to eliminating unintentional biases in the language

Use structured hiring to mitigate unconscious bias

Now that yoursquove communicated your focus on diversity and published

an inclusive job description you might think most of your work is

behind you After all isnrsquot the process mostly in your recruiterrsquos hands

from here Not just yet Once you have candidates entering your hiring

pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices

will really be put to the test

Consider adding an inclusivity statement

Is your job description unintentionally scaring candidates away

Research shows that women tend to only apply for jobs when they meet

100 of the requirements One way to encourage candidates from

diverse backgrounds to apply is by adding an inclusivity statement to

your list of qualifications Jobs are filled 6 faster when the description

includes an inclusion message or EEO statement Herersquos the Greenhouse

version (itrsquos the last item in the list of qualifications) ldquoYour own unique

talents If you donrsquot meet 100 of the qualifications outlined above tell

us why yoursquod be a great fit for this role in your cover letterrdquo

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 26

Here are a few important things to keep in mind to stay accountable to

your commitment to DEampI

Screen in over screening out

When reviewing resumes use the framework of screening in rather

than screening out While certain jobs will have hard requirements ndash an

engineer might need fluency in a certain coding language to perform in

their job ndash many employers are placing less emphasis on a strict set of

resume qualifications when determining who to move to the next stage

and thinking about how they can invest in training people who have

potential but donrsquot have specific qualifications

When conducting interviews many hiring managers get

understandably nervous when considering candidates from

backgrounds that are not currently represented on their team That

behavior is often grounded in similar-to-me bias and perpetuates

homogeneity Pay close attention to how you and your interviewers

react to historically underrepresented candidates and actively exercise

open-mindedness Your best hire may be the person who is different

from everyone else your team has hired in the past

Use the same criteria

To create an even playing field assess all candidates against the same

hiring criteria that yoursquove determined is necessary for the role which

is the core of structured hiring Similarly make sure each candidate is

answering the same interview questions from your interviewers This

allows your interviewers not only to focus on relevant areas to assess

but also to compare candidates in a data-driven and fair way in the

event yoursquore choosing between several finalists

Diversify your panel

Finally consider your interview panel Which demographic groups are

represented and which are not represented Do you have a panel of all

men Of all the same ethnicity or race Of all millennials If the answer

is yes to any of these scenarios how are you planning to address this

elephant in the room with candidates who identify differently Put

yourself in their shoes and be prepared to clearly explain why creating

a more diverse team is a priority for you

Once you have candidates entering your hiring pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices will really be put to the test

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 27

Measure wins by progress and improvements

If you donrsquot already have an extensive DEampI program at your

organization figuring out where to start can be challenging Who we

are informs everything we do ndash who we hire what we observe where

we live how we communicate ndash and it can be tough to know where to

focus when checking our own potential biases However starting with a

deep reflection of your hiring process is a way to take ownership of your

responsibility as a business leader to prioritize DEampI Your commitment

may not produce immediate results since company demographics

arenrsquot something that can change overnight but your efforts will drive

meaningful and positive change in the long run with respect to who you

hire and advocate for in your company

Own your influence As a leader you have the ability to influence others through your words

and actions Consider the ways you can demonstrate your commitment

to DEampI Here are some ideas to get you started

bull Sponsor an employee resource group and commit to helping

them achieve their goals

bull Attend diversity sourcing events and invite coworkers to join you

bull Refer candidates from overlookedunderrepresented groups to

open roles throughout your organization

bull Look for local organizations you can partner with ndash perhaps

you can sponsor a hackathon offer an internship or otherwise

support their mission

bull Ask for feedback and suggestions ndash your team might already

have some great ideas about how to prioritize DEampI

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 28

Part 5 For everyone

Creating an inclusive candidate experience to build stronger more diverse teamsEvery person in your company ndash regardless of their job title ndash can

contribute to inclusive hiring Whether theyrsquore making referrals

interviewing candidates or talking to prospects their actions can

have an impact on candidate experience Thatrsquos why itrsquos essential

to be intentional about the role everyone plays

Here are a few ways to create an inclusive candidate experience

Structured hiring

Structured hiring is an approach where selection decisions are

based on evidence not emotion Leaders align the role to a business

objective and build a rigorous and objective interview process

through conversations assignments and the like that can be used to

predict job performance Candidates are asked consistent questions

that connect back to specific attributes required for the role and

interviewers evaluate responses against a defined rating system in

the interview scorecard

In previous sections we covered how hiring managers and recruiters

can partner to implement structured hiring Remember that rolling

it out to your entire company will take time and effort Everyone

involved in the interview process will need to be trained on things

like how to conduct interviews take notes and score candidates

Consider integrating this training into new hire onboarding team

offsites or manager professional development to ensure everyone

stays up to date

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 29

Defining and hiring for culture add

Over the past several years wersquove seen companies move away

from assessing candidates on their ldquoculture fitrdquo because this term

can lead to homogeneous hiring But many companies still want

a way to determine whether candidates are aligned with their values

This is where ldquoculture addrdquo or values interviews can come into play

Culture-add interviews also give candidates the chance to meet

people from other teams and departments to get a broader sense of

your company culture

If culture-add interviews are part of your hiring process (or you want

them to be) yoursquoll want to consider the following

bull Who conducts culture-add interviews What is the selection

process like for identifying these interviewers within your

company and training them

bull Which questions does the culture-add interview cover How do

you define great acceptable and unacceptable answers

bull How often will you revisit and update this process

Hiring Maturity success story Neil Casey ThoughtWorks

In this limited podcast

series Greenhouse

President and Co-

founder Jon Stross sat

down with talent leaders

from leading companies

to discuss their Hiring

Maturity journeys Listen

in as Jon invites Neil

Casey Global Head of

Sourcing and Strategic

Hiring at ThoughtWorks

to discuss building an

inclusive hiring process

at scale

Explore the Greenhouse DEampI feature set

Take structured interviewing to the next level with solutions that enable

recruiters interviewers and hiring managers to operationalize and

scale fairer hiring practices Herersquos a brief overview of the Greenhouse

DEampI feature set

Data collection and reporting ndash Track self-reported applicant

demographic data throughout the hiring funnel (from sourcing

to offer) and measure pass-throughdrop-off rates

In-the-moment interventions ndash Reminders that nudge users to

slow down and avoid instinctive mental shortcuts that arenrsquot

rooted in evidence or tied to job-relevant criteria

Structured decision-making ndash Added guardrails that support

a more objective selection process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 30

Encouraging an inclusive approach to employee referrals

Employee referrals are a great way to get everyone involved in the

hiring process Itrsquos exciting to have a hand in shaping the future of your

company while helping someone in your network land their next role

But certain groups tend to benefit from referrals more than others

which can lead to more homogeneity

The good news is that referrals donrsquot automatically lead to

homogeneous hires according to research by DEampI consultancy

Paradigm They partnered with Pinterest to determine why employee

referrals tend to be homogenous Is it because peoplersquos networks

are truly that homogenous or is it due to pattern-matching bias

(employees are looking around at their coworkers and only thinking

of people who are similar to the existing team) Paradigm found that

when a leader asked employees to be more mindful about diversity

when offering referrals especially people of color and women it made

a tangible impact over the following six weeks So be sure to encourage

employees to consider diversity when making referrals

DonorsChoose takes a data-driven approach to DEampI in their hiring

DonorsChoosersquos challenge Develop a hiring process that aligns with

the organizationrsquos commitment to DEampI in their work in education

DonorsChoose has a high standard for their DEampI hiring efforts and

wanted to intentionally drive a more diverse candidate pool To do so

they had to prioritize gathering better data on diversity in their hiring

pools Without that data conversations between the People and Talent

team and hiring managers felt uninformed and ineffective

DonorsChoose wanted data at their fingertips to drive their DEampI

hiring efforts The Greenhouse DEampI feature set offered them a robust

set of tools Since turning on custom demographic reporting the

DonorsChoose team has seen an improvement and recognized that

now 58 of the candidates who have made it to the face-to-face

interview stage at DonorsChoose have identified as people of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 31

ConclusionWe recommend sitting with these strategies for a few days rather than

immediately jumping into action Take time to reflect on your next

steps and collaborate with your internal partners in order to create the

optimal DEampI hiring strategy for your company

Remember that when it comes to DEampI therersquos no ldquoend staterdquo to arrive

at Wersquore all on the same journey of curiosity listening progress and

discovery

If yoursquod like to do further reading or research on any of the topics we

covered wersquove curated a list of recommended reading for you

We are your partners and allies and stand beside you in this work and

will help you as best we can All of us at Greenhouse are committed to

bringing about lasting change and we will be your partner in creating

a more equitable hiring process so you can build more inclusive

stronger teams

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 32

Recommended reading

DEampI strategy Creating an Effective Diversity and Inclusion

Program

DEampI strategy Hiring Diverse Candidates is Not Enough ndash

Itrsquos About Keeping Them

DEampI strategy Toward a Racially Just Workplace

DEampI strategy Why So Many Organizations Stay White

DEampI strategy Do Your DampI Efforts Include People with

Disabilities

Hiring If Therersquos Only One Woman in Your Candidate

Pool Therersquos Statisically No Chance Shersquoll Be

Hired

Hiring A Data-Driven Approach to Hiring More

Diverse Talent

Hiring How to Alter Your Hiring Practices to Increase

Diversity

Hiring Research How Speech Patterns Lead to

Hiring Bias

Intersectionality Do Your Diversity Efforts Reflect the

Experiences of Women of Color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 33

Recommended reading (continued)

Sourcing Could This Be The Secret To Hiring More

Women And People Of Color

Sourcing Diversity Sourcing Strategy 3 LinkedIn

Search Tips from Boolean Master Glen

Cathey

Sourcing How to increase workplace diversity with

employee referrals

Unconscious bias Managing Unconscious Bias Strategies to

Manage Bias amp Build More Diverse Inclusive

Organizations

Unconscious bias 50 Ways to Fight Bias

Unconscious bias 12 Unconscious Bias Examples and How to

Avoid Them in the Workplace

Unconscious bias Harvard Project Implicit Association Tests

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 34

Greenhouse is the hiring software company

We help businesses be great at hiring through

our powerful hiring approach complete suite of

software and services and large partner ecosystem ndash

so businesses can hire for whatrsquos next

To learn more visit

greenhouseio

Page 25: eBook Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company

Describe goals and growth opportunities

Focus on describing the exciting goals and clear objectives of the

job rather than listing day-to-day responsibilities that arenrsquot tied to

outcomes This will not only inspire candidates it will also help them

decide if what theyrsquoll own and learn in your job is aligned with their

career goals

Examples of unintentionally biased language

Masculine-tone

Exhaustive

Enforcement

Fearless

Feminine-tone

Transparent

Catalyst

In touch with

Textio writes ldquoA language pattern is considered gendered if it

statistically changes the proportion of men and women who respond

to a job post containing itrdquo Their research reveals that in jobs where

a man is hired the original job post averages almost twice as many

masculine-tone phrases as feminine In jobs where a woman is hired

Textio finds the exact opposite there are twice as many feminine-tone

phrases as masculine in the job post Here are a few common phrases

that exert this type of bias effect

bull What are the goals and outcomes you want this person to achieve

bull What are the success metrics being tracked and the desired outcomes

bull What does growth look like on your team when someone delivers

quarter over quarter

bull Who will this person be actively collaborating with

Questions to answer in your job description

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 25

Focus on skills over requirements

Carefully consider each requirement yoursquore adding to your job

description Can you shift your focus away from a specific number

of years of work experience or required degrees and move toward

a candidatersquos abilities Could you take it a step further and include

verbiage that encourages candidates to apply even if they might not

have all the necessary qualifications

Get other opinions

Continue to iterate and socialize your job description Share it with

someone whorsquos currently in the role or someone who represents an

underrepresented demographic group to learn if there are better ways to

position the content Incorporating feedback from different perspectives

is key to eliminating unintentional biases in the language

Use structured hiring to mitigate unconscious bias

Now that yoursquove communicated your focus on diversity and published

an inclusive job description you might think most of your work is

behind you After all isnrsquot the process mostly in your recruiterrsquos hands

from here Not just yet Once you have candidates entering your hiring

pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices

will really be put to the test

Consider adding an inclusivity statement

Is your job description unintentionally scaring candidates away

Research shows that women tend to only apply for jobs when they meet

100 of the requirements One way to encourage candidates from

diverse backgrounds to apply is by adding an inclusivity statement to

your list of qualifications Jobs are filled 6 faster when the description

includes an inclusion message or EEO statement Herersquos the Greenhouse

version (itrsquos the last item in the list of qualifications) ldquoYour own unique

talents If you donrsquot meet 100 of the qualifications outlined above tell

us why yoursquod be a great fit for this role in your cover letterrdquo

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 26

Here are a few important things to keep in mind to stay accountable to

your commitment to DEampI

Screen in over screening out

When reviewing resumes use the framework of screening in rather

than screening out While certain jobs will have hard requirements ndash an

engineer might need fluency in a certain coding language to perform in

their job ndash many employers are placing less emphasis on a strict set of

resume qualifications when determining who to move to the next stage

and thinking about how they can invest in training people who have

potential but donrsquot have specific qualifications

When conducting interviews many hiring managers get

understandably nervous when considering candidates from

backgrounds that are not currently represented on their team That

behavior is often grounded in similar-to-me bias and perpetuates

homogeneity Pay close attention to how you and your interviewers

react to historically underrepresented candidates and actively exercise

open-mindedness Your best hire may be the person who is different

from everyone else your team has hired in the past

Use the same criteria

To create an even playing field assess all candidates against the same

hiring criteria that yoursquove determined is necessary for the role which

is the core of structured hiring Similarly make sure each candidate is

answering the same interview questions from your interviewers This

allows your interviewers not only to focus on relevant areas to assess

but also to compare candidates in a data-driven and fair way in the

event yoursquore choosing between several finalists

Diversify your panel

Finally consider your interview panel Which demographic groups are

represented and which are not represented Do you have a panel of all

men Of all the same ethnicity or race Of all millennials If the answer

is yes to any of these scenarios how are you planning to address this

elephant in the room with candidates who identify differently Put

yourself in their shoes and be prepared to clearly explain why creating

a more diverse team is a priority for you

Once you have candidates entering your hiring pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices will really be put to the test

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 27

Measure wins by progress and improvements

If you donrsquot already have an extensive DEampI program at your

organization figuring out where to start can be challenging Who we

are informs everything we do ndash who we hire what we observe where

we live how we communicate ndash and it can be tough to know where to

focus when checking our own potential biases However starting with a

deep reflection of your hiring process is a way to take ownership of your

responsibility as a business leader to prioritize DEampI Your commitment

may not produce immediate results since company demographics

arenrsquot something that can change overnight but your efforts will drive

meaningful and positive change in the long run with respect to who you

hire and advocate for in your company

Own your influence As a leader you have the ability to influence others through your words

and actions Consider the ways you can demonstrate your commitment

to DEampI Here are some ideas to get you started

bull Sponsor an employee resource group and commit to helping

them achieve their goals

bull Attend diversity sourcing events and invite coworkers to join you

bull Refer candidates from overlookedunderrepresented groups to

open roles throughout your organization

bull Look for local organizations you can partner with ndash perhaps

you can sponsor a hackathon offer an internship or otherwise

support their mission

bull Ask for feedback and suggestions ndash your team might already

have some great ideas about how to prioritize DEampI

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 28

Part 5 For everyone

Creating an inclusive candidate experience to build stronger more diverse teamsEvery person in your company ndash regardless of their job title ndash can

contribute to inclusive hiring Whether theyrsquore making referrals

interviewing candidates or talking to prospects their actions can

have an impact on candidate experience Thatrsquos why itrsquos essential

to be intentional about the role everyone plays

Here are a few ways to create an inclusive candidate experience

Structured hiring

Structured hiring is an approach where selection decisions are

based on evidence not emotion Leaders align the role to a business

objective and build a rigorous and objective interview process

through conversations assignments and the like that can be used to

predict job performance Candidates are asked consistent questions

that connect back to specific attributes required for the role and

interviewers evaluate responses against a defined rating system in

the interview scorecard

In previous sections we covered how hiring managers and recruiters

can partner to implement structured hiring Remember that rolling

it out to your entire company will take time and effort Everyone

involved in the interview process will need to be trained on things

like how to conduct interviews take notes and score candidates

Consider integrating this training into new hire onboarding team

offsites or manager professional development to ensure everyone

stays up to date

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 29

Defining and hiring for culture add

Over the past several years wersquove seen companies move away

from assessing candidates on their ldquoculture fitrdquo because this term

can lead to homogeneous hiring But many companies still want

a way to determine whether candidates are aligned with their values

This is where ldquoculture addrdquo or values interviews can come into play

Culture-add interviews also give candidates the chance to meet

people from other teams and departments to get a broader sense of

your company culture

If culture-add interviews are part of your hiring process (or you want

them to be) yoursquoll want to consider the following

bull Who conducts culture-add interviews What is the selection

process like for identifying these interviewers within your

company and training them

bull Which questions does the culture-add interview cover How do

you define great acceptable and unacceptable answers

bull How often will you revisit and update this process

Hiring Maturity success story Neil Casey ThoughtWorks

In this limited podcast

series Greenhouse

President and Co-

founder Jon Stross sat

down with talent leaders

from leading companies

to discuss their Hiring

Maturity journeys Listen

in as Jon invites Neil

Casey Global Head of

Sourcing and Strategic

Hiring at ThoughtWorks

to discuss building an

inclusive hiring process

at scale

Explore the Greenhouse DEampI feature set

Take structured interviewing to the next level with solutions that enable

recruiters interviewers and hiring managers to operationalize and

scale fairer hiring practices Herersquos a brief overview of the Greenhouse

DEampI feature set

Data collection and reporting ndash Track self-reported applicant

demographic data throughout the hiring funnel (from sourcing

to offer) and measure pass-throughdrop-off rates

In-the-moment interventions ndash Reminders that nudge users to

slow down and avoid instinctive mental shortcuts that arenrsquot

rooted in evidence or tied to job-relevant criteria

Structured decision-making ndash Added guardrails that support

a more objective selection process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 30

Encouraging an inclusive approach to employee referrals

Employee referrals are a great way to get everyone involved in the

hiring process Itrsquos exciting to have a hand in shaping the future of your

company while helping someone in your network land their next role

But certain groups tend to benefit from referrals more than others

which can lead to more homogeneity

The good news is that referrals donrsquot automatically lead to

homogeneous hires according to research by DEampI consultancy

Paradigm They partnered with Pinterest to determine why employee

referrals tend to be homogenous Is it because peoplersquos networks

are truly that homogenous or is it due to pattern-matching bias

(employees are looking around at their coworkers and only thinking

of people who are similar to the existing team) Paradigm found that

when a leader asked employees to be more mindful about diversity

when offering referrals especially people of color and women it made

a tangible impact over the following six weeks So be sure to encourage

employees to consider diversity when making referrals

DonorsChoose takes a data-driven approach to DEampI in their hiring

DonorsChoosersquos challenge Develop a hiring process that aligns with

the organizationrsquos commitment to DEampI in their work in education

DonorsChoose has a high standard for their DEampI hiring efforts and

wanted to intentionally drive a more diverse candidate pool To do so

they had to prioritize gathering better data on diversity in their hiring

pools Without that data conversations between the People and Talent

team and hiring managers felt uninformed and ineffective

DonorsChoose wanted data at their fingertips to drive their DEampI

hiring efforts The Greenhouse DEampI feature set offered them a robust

set of tools Since turning on custom demographic reporting the

DonorsChoose team has seen an improvement and recognized that

now 58 of the candidates who have made it to the face-to-face

interview stage at DonorsChoose have identified as people of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 31

ConclusionWe recommend sitting with these strategies for a few days rather than

immediately jumping into action Take time to reflect on your next

steps and collaborate with your internal partners in order to create the

optimal DEampI hiring strategy for your company

Remember that when it comes to DEampI therersquos no ldquoend staterdquo to arrive

at Wersquore all on the same journey of curiosity listening progress and

discovery

If yoursquod like to do further reading or research on any of the topics we

covered wersquove curated a list of recommended reading for you

We are your partners and allies and stand beside you in this work and

will help you as best we can All of us at Greenhouse are committed to

bringing about lasting change and we will be your partner in creating

a more equitable hiring process so you can build more inclusive

stronger teams

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 32

Recommended reading

DEampI strategy Creating an Effective Diversity and Inclusion

Program

DEampI strategy Hiring Diverse Candidates is Not Enough ndash

Itrsquos About Keeping Them

DEampI strategy Toward a Racially Just Workplace

DEampI strategy Why So Many Organizations Stay White

DEampI strategy Do Your DampI Efforts Include People with

Disabilities

Hiring If Therersquos Only One Woman in Your Candidate

Pool Therersquos Statisically No Chance Shersquoll Be

Hired

Hiring A Data-Driven Approach to Hiring More

Diverse Talent

Hiring How to Alter Your Hiring Practices to Increase

Diversity

Hiring Research How Speech Patterns Lead to

Hiring Bias

Intersectionality Do Your Diversity Efforts Reflect the

Experiences of Women of Color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 33

Recommended reading (continued)

Sourcing Could This Be The Secret To Hiring More

Women And People Of Color

Sourcing Diversity Sourcing Strategy 3 LinkedIn

Search Tips from Boolean Master Glen

Cathey

Sourcing How to increase workplace diversity with

employee referrals

Unconscious bias Managing Unconscious Bias Strategies to

Manage Bias amp Build More Diverse Inclusive

Organizations

Unconscious bias 50 Ways to Fight Bias

Unconscious bias 12 Unconscious Bias Examples and How to

Avoid Them in the Workplace

Unconscious bias Harvard Project Implicit Association Tests

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 34

Greenhouse is the hiring software company

We help businesses be great at hiring through

our powerful hiring approach complete suite of

software and services and large partner ecosystem ndash

so businesses can hire for whatrsquos next

To learn more visit

greenhouseio

Page 26: eBook Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company

Focus on skills over requirements

Carefully consider each requirement yoursquore adding to your job

description Can you shift your focus away from a specific number

of years of work experience or required degrees and move toward

a candidatersquos abilities Could you take it a step further and include

verbiage that encourages candidates to apply even if they might not

have all the necessary qualifications

Get other opinions

Continue to iterate and socialize your job description Share it with

someone whorsquos currently in the role or someone who represents an

underrepresented demographic group to learn if there are better ways to

position the content Incorporating feedback from different perspectives

is key to eliminating unintentional biases in the language

Use structured hiring to mitigate unconscious bias

Now that yoursquove communicated your focus on diversity and published

an inclusive job description you might think most of your work is

behind you After all isnrsquot the process mostly in your recruiterrsquos hands

from here Not just yet Once you have candidates entering your hiring

pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices

will really be put to the test

Consider adding an inclusivity statement

Is your job description unintentionally scaring candidates away

Research shows that women tend to only apply for jobs when they meet

100 of the requirements One way to encourage candidates from

diverse backgrounds to apply is by adding an inclusivity statement to

your list of qualifications Jobs are filled 6 faster when the description

includes an inclusion message or EEO statement Herersquos the Greenhouse

version (itrsquos the last item in the list of qualifications) ldquoYour own unique

talents If you donrsquot meet 100 of the qualifications outlined above tell

us why yoursquod be a great fit for this role in your cover letterrdquo

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 26

Here are a few important things to keep in mind to stay accountable to

your commitment to DEampI

Screen in over screening out

When reviewing resumes use the framework of screening in rather

than screening out While certain jobs will have hard requirements ndash an

engineer might need fluency in a certain coding language to perform in

their job ndash many employers are placing less emphasis on a strict set of

resume qualifications when determining who to move to the next stage

and thinking about how they can invest in training people who have

potential but donrsquot have specific qualifications

When conducting interviews many hiring managers get

understandably nervous when considering candidates from

backgrounds that are not currently represented on their team That

behavior is often grounded in similar-to-me bias and perpetuates

homogeneity Pay close attention to how you and your interviewers

react to historically underrepresented candidates and actively exercise

open-mindedness Your best hire may be the person who is different

from everyone else your team has hired in the past

Use the same criteria

To create an even playing field assess all candidates against the same

hiring criteria that yoursquove determined is necessary for the role which

is the core of structured hiring Similarly make sure each candidate is

answering the same interview questions from your interviewers This

allows your interviewers not only to focus on relevant areas to assess

but also to compare candidates in a data-driven and fair way in the

event yoursquore choosing between several finalists

Diversify your panel

Finally consider your interview panel Which demographic groups are

represented and which are not represented Do you have a panel of all

men Of all the same ethnicity or race Of all millennials If the answer

is yes to any of these scenarios how are you planning to address this

elephant in the room with candidates who identify differently Put

yourself in their shoes and be prepared to clearly explain why creating

a more diverse team is a priority for you

Once you have candidates entering your hiring pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices will really be put to the test

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 27

Measure wins by progress and improvements

If you donrsquot already have an extensive DEampI program at your

organization figuring out where to start can be challenging Who we

are informs everything we do ndash who we hire what we observe where

we live how we communicate ndash and it can be tough to know where to

focus when checking our own potential biases However starting with a

deep reflection of your hiring process is a way to take ownership of your

responsibility as a business leader to prioritize DEampI Your commitment

may not produce immediate results since company demographics

arenrsquot something that can change overnight but your efforts will drive

meaningful and positive change in the long run with respect to who you

hire and advocate for in your company

Own your influence As a leader you have the ability to influence others through your words

and actions Consider the ways you can demonstrate your commitment

to DEampI Here are some ideas to get you started

bull Sponsor an employee resource group and commit to helping

them achieve their goals

bull Attend diversity sourcing events and invite coworkers to join you

bull Refer candidates from overlookedunderrepresented groups to

open roles throughout your organization

bull Look for local organizations you can partner with ndash perhaps

you can sponsor a hackathon offer an internship or otherwise

support their mission

bull Ask for feedback and suggestions ndash your team might already

have some great ideas about how to prioritize DEampI

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 28

Part 5 For everyone

Creating an inclusive candidate experience to build stronger more diverse teamsEvery person in your company ndash regardless of their job title ndash can

contribute to inclusive hiring Whether theyrsquore making referrals

interviewing candidates or talking to prospects their actions can

have an impact on candidate experience Thatrsquos why itrsquos essential

to be intentional about the role everyone plays

Here are a few ways to create an inclusive candidate experience

Structured hiring

Structured hiring is an approach where selection decisions are

based on evidence not emotion Leaders align the role to a business

objective and build a rigorous and objective interview process

through conversations assignments and the like that can be used to

predict job performance Candidates are asked consistent questions

that connect back to specific attributes required for the role and

interviewers evaluate responses against a defined rating system in

the interview scorecard

In previous sections we covered how hiring managers and recruiters

can partner to implement structured hiring Remember that rolling

it out to your entire company will take time and effort Everyone

involved in the interview process will need to be trained on things

like how to conduct interviews take notes and score candidates

Consider integrating this training into new hire onboarding team

offsites or manager professional development to ensure everyone

stays up to date

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 29

Defining and hiring for culture add

Over the past several years wersquove seen companies move away

from assessing candidates on their ldquoculture fitrdquo because this term

can lead to homogeneous hiring But many companies still want

a way to determine whether candidates are aligned with their values

This is where ldquoculture addrdquo or values interviews can come into play

Culture-add interviews also give candidates the chance to meet

people from other teams and departments to get a broader sense of

your company culture

If culture-add interviews are part of your hiring process (or you want

them to be) yoursquoll want to consider the following

bull Who conducts culture-add interviews What is the selection

process like for identifying these interviewers within your

company and training them

bull Which questions does the culture-add interview cover How do

you define great acceptable and unacceptable answers

bull How often will you revisit and update this process

Hiring Maturity success story Neil Casey ThoughtWorks

In this limited podcast

series Greenhouse

President and Co-

founder Jon Stross sat

down with talent leaders

from leading companies

to discuss their Hiring

Maturity journeys Listen

in as Jon invites Neil

Casey Global Head of

Sourcing and Strategic

Hiring at ThoughtWorks

to discuss building an

inclusive hiring process

at scale

Explore the Greenhouse DEampI feature set

Take structured interviewing to the next level with solutions that enable

recruiters interviewers and hiring managers to operationalize and

scale fairer hiring practices Herersquos a brief overview of the Greenhouse

DEampI feature set

Data collection and reporting ndash Track self-reported applicant

demographic data throughout the hiring funnel (from sourcing

to offer) and measure pass-throughdrop-off rates

In-the-moment interventions ndash Reminders that nudge users to

slow down and avoid instinctive mental shortcuts that arenrsquot

rooted in evidence or tied to job-relevant criteria

Structured decision-making ndash Added guardrails that support

a more objective selection process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 30

Encouraging an inclusive approach to employee referrals

Employee referrals are a great way to get everyone involved in the

hiring process Itrsquos exciting to have a hand in shaping the future of your

company while helping someone in your network land their next role

But certain groups tend to benefit from referrals more than others

which can lead to more homogeneity

The good news is that referrals donrsquot automatically lead to

homogeneous hires according to research by DEampI consultancy

Paradigm They partnered with Pinterest to determine why employee

referrals tend to be homogenous Is it because peoplersquos networks

are truly that homogenous or is it due to pattern-matching bias

(employees are looking around at their coworkers and only thinking

of people who are similar to the existing team) Paradigm found that

when a leader asked employees to be more mindful about diversity

when offering referrals especially people of color and women it made

a tangible impact over the following six weeks So be sure to encourage

employees to consider diversity when making referrals

DonorsChoose takes a data-driven approach to DEampI in their hiring

DonorsChoosersquos challenge Develop a hiring process that aligns with

the organizationrsquos commitment to DEampI in their work in education

DonorsChoose has a high standard for their DEampI hiring efforts and

wanted to intentionally drive a more diverse candidate pool To do so

they had to prioritize gathering better data on diversity in their hiring

pools Without that data conversations between the People and Talent

team and hiring managers felt uninformed and ineffective

DonorsChoose wanted data at their fingertips to drive their DEampI

hiring efforts The Greenhouse DEampI feature set offered them a robust

set of tools Since turning on custom demographic reporting the

DonorsChoose team has seen an improvement and recognized that

now 58 of the candidates who have made it to the face-to-face

interview stage at DonorsChoose have identified as people of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 31

ConclusionWe recommend sitting with these strategies for a few days rather than

immediately jumping into action Take time to reflect on your next

steps and collaborate with your internal partners in order to create the

optimal DEampI hiring strategy for your company

Remember that when it comes to DEampI therersquos no ldquoend staterdquo to arrive

at Wersquore all on the same journey of curiosity listening progress and

discovery

If yoursquod like to do further reading or research on any of the topics we

covered wersquove curated a list of recommended reading for you

We are your partners and allies and stand beside you in this work and

will help you as best we can All of us at Greenhouse are committed to

bringing about lasting change and we will be your partner in creating

a more equitable hiring process so you can build more inclusive

stronger teams

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 32

Recommended reading

DEampI strategy Creating an Effective Diversity and Inclusion

Program

DEampI strategy Hiring Diverse Candidates is Not Enough ndash

Itrsquos About Keeping Them

DEampI strategy Toward a Racially Just Workplace

DEampI strategy Why So Many Organizations Stay White

DEampI strategy Do Your DampI Efforts Include People with

Disabilities

Hiring If Therersquos Only One Woman in Your Candidate

Pool Therersquos Statisically No Chance Shersquoll Be

Hired

Hiring A Data-Driven Approach to Hiring More

Diverse Talent

Hiring How to Alter Your Hiring Practices to Increase

Diversity

Hiring Research How Speech Patterns Lead to

Hiring Bias

Intersectionality Do Your Diversity Efforts Reflect the

Experiences of Women of Color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 33

Recommended reading (continued)

Sourcing Could This Be The Secret To Hiring More

Women And People Of Color

Sourcing Diversity Sourcing Strategy 3 LinkedIn

Search Tips from Boolean Master Glen

Cathey

Sourcing How to increase workplace diversity with

employee referrals

Unconscious bias Managing Unconscious Bias Strategies to

Manage Bias amp Build More Diverse Inclusive

Organizations

Unconscious bias 50 Ways to Fight Bias

Unconscious bias 12 Unconscious Bias Examples and How to

Avoid Them in the Workplace

Unconscious bias Harvard Project Implicit Association Tests

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 34

Greenhouse is the hiring software company

We help businesses be great at hiring through

our powerful hiring approach complete suite of

software and services and large partner ecosystem ndash

so businesses can hire for whatrsquos next

To learn more visit

greenhouseio

Page 27: eBook Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company

Here are a few important things to keep in mind to stay accountable to

your commitment to DEampI

Screen in over screening out

When reviewing resumes use the framework of screening in rather

than screening out While certain jobs will have hard requirements ndash an

engineer might need fluency in a certain coding language to perform in

their job ndash many employers are placing less emphasis on a strict set of

resume qualifications when determining who to move to the next stage

and thinking about how they can invest in training people who have

potential but donrsquot have specific qualifications

When conducting interviews many hiring managers get

understandably nervous when considering candidates from

backgrounds that are not currently represented on their team That

behavior is often grounded in similar-to-me bias and perpetuates

homogeneity Pay close attention to how you and your interviewers

react to historically underrepresented candidates and actively exercise

open-mindedness Your best hire may be the person who is different

from everyone else your team has hired in the past

Use the same criteria

To create an even playing field assess all candidates against the same

hiring criteria that yoursquove determined is necessary for the role which

is the core of structured hiring Similarly make sure each candidate is

answering the same interview questions from your interviewers This

allows your interviewers not only to focus on relevant areas to assess

but also to compare candidates in a data-driven and fair way in the

event yoursquore choosing between several finalists

Diversify your panel

Finally consider your interview panel Which demographic groups are

represented and which are not represented Do you have a panel of all

men Of all the same ethnicity or race Of all millennials If the answer

is yes to any of these scenarios how are you planning to address this

elephant in the room with candidates who identify differently Put

yourself in their shoes and be prepared to clearly explain why creating

a more diverse team is a priority for you

Once you have candidates entering your hiring pipeline your commitment to equitable and inclusive hiring practices will really be put to the test

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 27

Measure wins by progress and improvements

If you donrsquot already have an extensive DEampI program at your

organization figuring out where to start can be challenging Who we

are informs everything we do ndash who we hire what we observe where

we live how we communicate ndash and it can be tough to know where to

focus when checking our own potential biases However starting with a

deep reflection of your hiring process is a way to take ownership of your

responsibility as a business leader to prioritize DEampI Your commitment

may not produce immediate results since company demographics

arenrsquot something that can change overnight but your efforts will drive

meaningful and positive change in the long run with respect to who you

hire and advocate for in your company

Own your influence As a leader you have the ability to influence others through your words

and actions Consider the ways you can demonstrate your commitment

to DEampI Here are some ideas to get you started

bull Sponsor an employee resource group and commit to helping

them achieve their goals

bull Attend diversity sourcing events and invite coworkers to join you

bull Refer candidates from overlookedunderrepresented groups to

open roles throughout your organization

bull Look for local organizations you can partner with ndash perhaps

you can sponsor a hackathon offer an internship or otherwise

support their mission

bull Ask for feedback and suggestions ndash your team might already

have some great ideas about how to prioritize DEampI

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 28

Part 5 For everyone

Creating an inclusive candidate experience to build stronger more diverse teamsEvery person in your company ndash regardless of their job title ndash can

contribute to inclusive hiring Whether theyrsquore making referrals

interviewing candidates or talking to prospects their actions can

have an impact on candidate experience Thatrsquos why itrsquos essential

to be intentional about the role everyone plays

Here are a few ways to create an inclusive candidate experience

Structured hiring

Structured hiring is an approach where selection decisions are

based on evidence not emotion Leaders align the role to a business

objective and build a rigorous and objective interview process

through conversations assignments and the like that can be used to

predict job performance Candidates are asked consistent questions

that connect back to specific attributes required for the role and

interviewers evaluate responses against a defined rating system in

the interview scorecard

In previous sections we covered how hiring managers and recruiters

can partner to implement structured hiring Remember that rolling

it out to your entire company will take time and effort Everyone

involved in the interview process will need to be trained on things

like how to conduct interviews take notes and score candidates

Consider integrating this training into new hire onboarding team

offsites or manager professional development to ensure everyone

stays up to date

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 29

Defining and hiring for culture add

Over the past several years wersquove seen companies move away

from assessing candidates on their ldquoculture fitrdquo because this term

can lead to homogeneous hiring But many companies still want

a way to determine whether candidates are aligned with their values

This is where ldquoculture addrdquo or values interviews can come into play

Culture-add interviews also give candidates the chance to meet

people from other teams and departments to get a broader sense of

your company culture

If culture-add interviews are part of your hiring process (or you want

them to be) yoursquoll want to consider the following

bull Who conducts culture-add interviews What is the selection

process like for identifying these interviewers within your

company and training them

bull Which questions does the culture-add interview cover How do

you define great acceptable and unacceptable answers

bull How often will you revisit and update this process

Hiring Maturity success story Neil Casey ThoughtWorks

In this limited podcast

series Greenhouse

President and Co-

founder Jon Stross sat

down with talent leaders

from leading companies

to discuss their Hiring

Maturity journeys Listen

in as Jon invites Neil

Casey Global Head of

Sourcing and Strategic

Hiring at ThoughtWorks

to discuss building an

inclusive hiring process

at scale

Explore the Greenhouse DEampI feature set

Take structured interviewing to the next level with solutions that enable

recruiters interviewers and hiring managers to operationalize and

scale fairer hiring practices Herersquos a brief overview of the Greenhouse

DEampI feature set

Data collection and reporting ndash Track self-reported applicant

demographic data throughout the hiring funnel (from sourcing

to offer) and measure pass-throughdrop-off rates

In-the-moment interventions ndash Reminders that nudge users to

slow down and avoid instinctive mental shortcuts that arenrsquot

rooted in evidence or tied to job-relevant criteria

Structured decision-making ndash Added guardrails that support

a more objective selection process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 30

Encouraging an inclusive approach to employee referrals

Employee referrals are a great way to get everyone involved in the

hiring process Itrsquos exciting to have a hand in shaping the future of your

company while helping someone in your network land their next role

But certain groups tend to benefit from referrals more than others

which can lead to more homogeneity

The good news is that referrals donrsquot automatically lead to

homogeneous hires according to research by DEampI consultancy

Paradigm They partnered with Pinterest to determine why employee

referrals tend to be homogenous Is it because peoplersquos networks

are truly that homogenous or is it due to pattern-matching bias

(employees are looking around at their coworkers and only thinking

of people who are similar to the existing team) Paradigm found that

when a leader asked employees to be more mindful about diversity

when offering referrals especially people of color and women it made

a tangible impact over the following six weeks So be sure to encourage

employees to consider diversity when making referrals

DonorsChoose takes a data-driven approach to DEampI in their hiring

DonorsChoosersquos challenge Develop a hiring process that aligns with

the organizationrsquos commitment to DEampI in their work in education

DonorsChoose has a high standard for their DEampI hiring efforts and

wanted to intentionally drive a more diverse candidate pool To do so

they had to prioritize gathering better data on diversity in their hiring

pools Without that data conversations between the People and Talent

team and hiring managers felt uninformed and ineffective

DonorsChoose wanted data at their fingertips to drive their DEampI

hiring efforts The Greenhouse DEampI feature set offered them a robust

set of tools Since turning on custom demographic reporting the

DonorsChoose team has seen an improvement and recognized that

now 58 of the candidates who have made it to the face-to-face

interview stage at DonorsChoose have identified as people of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 31

ConclusionWe recommend sitting with these strategies for a few days rather than

immediately jumping into action Take time to reflect on your next

steps and collaborate with your internal partners in order to create the

optimal DEampI hiring strategy for your company

Remember that when it comes to DEampI therersquos no ldquoend staterdquo to arrive

at Wersquore all on the same journey of curiosity listening progress and

discovery

If yoursquod like to do further reading or research on any of the topics we

covered wersquove curated a list of recommended reading for you

We are your partners and allies and stand beside you in this work and

will help you as best we can All of us at Greenhouse are committed to

bringing about lasting change and we will be your partner in creating

a more equitable hiring process so you can build more inclusive

stronger teams

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 32

Recommended reading

DEampI strategy Creating an Effective Diversity and Inclusion

Program

DEampI strategy Hiring Diverse Candidates is Not Enough ndash

Itrsquos About Keeping Them

DEampI strategy Toward a Racially Just Workplace

DEampI strategy Why So Many Organizations Stay White

DEampI strategy Do Your DampI Efforts Include People with

Disabilities

Hiring If Therersquos Only One Woman in Your Candidate

Pool Therersquos Statisically No Chance Shersquoll Be

Hired

Hiring A Data-Driven Approach to Hiring More

Diverse Talent

Hiring How to Alter Your Hiring Practices to Increase

Diversity

Hiring Research How Speech Patterns Lead to

Hiring Bias

Intersectionality Do Your Diversity Efforts Reflect the

Experiences of Women of Color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 33

Recommended reading (continued)

Sourcing Could This Be The Secret To Hiring More

Women And People Of Color

Sourcing Diversity Sourcing Strategy 3 LinkedIn

Search Tips from Boolean Master Glen

Cathey

Sourcing How to increase workplace diversity with

employee referrals

Unconscious bias Managing Unconscious Bias Strategies to

Manage Bias amp Build More Diverse Inclusive

Organizations

Unconscious bias 50 Ways to Fight Bias

Unconscious bias 12 Unconscious Bias Examples and How to

Avoid Them in the Workplace

Unconscious bias Harvard Project Implicit Association Tests

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 34

Greenhouse is the hiring software company

We help businesses be great at hiring through

our powerful hiring approach complete suite of

software and services and large partner ecosystem ndash

so businesses can hire for whatrsquos next

To learn more visit

greenhouseio

Page 28: eBook Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company

Measure wins by progress and improvements

If you donrsquot already have an extensive DEampI program at your

organization figuring out where to start can be challenging Who we

are informs everything we do ndash who we hire what we observe where

we live how we communicate ndash and it can be tough to know where to

focus when checking our own potential biases However starting with a

deep reflection of your hiring process is a way to take ownership of your

responsibility as a business leader to prioritize DEampI Your commitment

may not produce immediate results since company demographics

arenrsquot something that can change overnight but your efforts will drive

meaningful and positive change in the long run with respect to who you

hire and advocate for in your company

Own your influence As a leader you have the ability to influence others through your words

and actions Consider the ways you can demonstrate your commitment

to DEampI Here are some ideas to get you started

bull Sponsor an employee resource group and commit to helping

them achieve their goals

bull Attend diversity sourcing events and invite coworkers to join you

bull Refer candidates from overlookedunderrepresented groups to

open roles throughout your organization

bull Look for local organizations you can partner with ndash perhaps

you can sponsor a hackathon offer an internship or otherwise

support their mission

bull Ask for feedback and suggestions ndash your team might already

have some great ideas about how to prioritize DEampI

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 28

Part 5 For everyone

Creating an inclusive candidate experience to build stronger more diverse teamsEvery person in your company ndash regardless of their job title ndash can

contribute to inclusive hiring Whether theyrsquore making referrals

interviewing candidates or talking to prospects their actions can

have an impact on candidate experience Thatrsquos why itrsquos essential

to be intentional about the role everyone plays

Here are a few ways to create an inclusive candidate experience

Structured hiring

Structured hiring is an approach where selection decisions are

based on evidence not emotion Leaders align the role to a business

objective and build a rigorous and objective interview process

through conversations assignments and the like that can be used to

predict job performance Candidates are asked consistent questions

that connect back to specific attributes required for the role and

interviewers evaluate responses against a defined rating system in

the interview scorecard

In previous sections we covered how hiring managers and recruiters

can partner to implement structured hiring Remember that rolling

it out to your entire company will take time and effort Everyone

involved in the interview process will need to be trained on things

like how to conduct interviews take notes and score candidates

Consider integrating this training into new hire onboarding team

offsites or manager professional development to ensure everyone

stays up to date

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 29

Defining and hiring for culture add

Over the past several years wersquove seen companies move away

from assessing candidates on their ldquoculture fitrdquo because this term

can lead to homogeneous hiring But many companies still want

a way to determine whether candidates are aligned with their values

This is where ldquoculture addrdquo or values interviews can come into play

Culture-add interviews also give candidates the chance to meet

people from other teams and departments to get a broader sense of

your company culture

If culture-add interviews are part of your hiring process (or you want

them to be) yoursquoll want to consider the following

bull Who conducts culture-add interviews What is the selection

process like for identifying these interviewers within your

company and training them

bull Which questions does the culture-add interview cover How do

you define great acceptable and unacceptable answers

bull How often will you revisit and update this process

Hiring Maturity success story Neil Casey ThoughtWorks

In this limited podcast

series Greenhouse

President and Co-

founder Jon Stross sat

down with talent leaders

from leading companies

to discuss their Hiring

Maturity journeys Listen

in as Jon invites Neil

Casey Global Head of

Sourcing and Strategic

Hiring at ThoughtWorks

to discuss building an

inclusive hiring process

at scale

Explore the Greenhouse DEampI feature set

Take structured interviewing to the next level with solutions that enable

recruiters interviewers and hiring managers to operationalize and

scale fairer hiring practices Herersquos a brief overview of the Greenhouse

DEampI feature set

Data collection and reporting ndash Track self-reported applicant

demographic data throughout the hiring funnel (from sourcing

to offer) and measure pass-throughdrop-off rates

In-the-moment interventions ndash Reminders that nudge users to

slow down and avoid instinctive mental shortcuts that arenrsquot

rooted in evidence or tied to job-relevant criteria

Structured decision-making ndash Added guardrails that support

a more objective selection process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 30

Encouraging an inclusive approach to employee referrals

Employee referrals are a great way to get everyone involved in the

hiring process Itrsquos exciting to have a hand in shaping the future of your

company while helping someone in your network land their next role

But certain groups tend to benefit from referrals more than others

which can lead to more homogeneity

The good news is that referrals donrsquot automatically lead to

homogeneous hires according to research by DEampI consultancy

Paradigm They partnered with Pinterest to determine why employee

referrals tend to be homogenous Is it because peoplersquos networks

are truly that homogenous or is it due to pattern-matching bias

(employees are looking around at their coworkers and only thinking

of people who are similar to the existing team) Paradigm found that

when a leader asked employees to be more mindful about diversity

when offering referrals especially people of color and women it made

a tangible impact over the following six weeks So be sure to encourage

employees to consider diversity when making referrals

DonorsChoose takes a data-driven approach to DEampI in their hiring

DonorsChoosersquos challenge Develop a hiring process that aligns with

the organizationrsquos commitment to DEampI in their work in education

DonorsChoose has a high standard for their DEampI hiring efforts and

wanted to intentionally drive a more diverse candidate pool To do so

they had to prioritize gathering better data on diversity in their hiring

pools Without that data conversations between the People and Talent

team and hiring managers felt uninformed and ineffective

DonorsChoose wanted data at their fingertips to drive their DEampI

hiring efforts The Greenhouse DEampI feature set offered them a robust

set of tools Since turning on custom demographic reporting the

DonorsChoose team has seen an improvement and recognized that

now 58 of the candidates who have made it to the face-to-face

interview stage at DonorsChoose have identified as people of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 31

ConclusionWe recommend sitting with these strategies for a few days rather than

immediately jumping into action Take time to reflect on your next

steps and collaborate with your internal partners in order to create the

optimal DEampI hiring strategy for your company

Remember that when it comes to DEampI therersquos no ldquoend staterdquo to arrive

at Wersquore all on the same journey of curiosity listening progress and

discovery

If yoursquod like to do further reading or research on any of the topics we

covered wersquove curated a list of recommended reading for you

We are your partners and allies and stand beside you in this work and

will help you as best we can All of us at Greenhouse are committed to

bringing about lasting change and we will be your partner in creating

a more equitable hiring process so you can build more inclusive

stronger teams

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 32

Recommended reading

DEampI strategy Creating an Effective Diversity and Inclusion

Program

DEampI strategy Hiring Diverse Candidates is Not Enough ndash

Itrsquos About Keeping Them

DEampI strategy Toward a Racially Just Workplace

DEampI strategy Why So Many Organizations Stay White

DEampI strategy Do Your DampI Efforts Include People with

Disabilities

Hiring If Therersquos Only One Woman in Your Candidate

Pool Therersquos Statisically No Chance Shersquoll Be

Hired

Hiring A Data-Driven Approach to Hiring More

Diverse Talent

Hiring How to Alter Your Hiring Practices to Increase

Diversity

Hiring Research How Speech Patterns Lead to

Hiring Bias

Intersectionality Do Your Diversity Efforts Reflect the

Experiences of Women of Color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 33

Recommended reading (continued)

Sourcing Could This Be The Secret To Hiring More

Women And People Of Color

Sourcing Diversity Sourcing Strategy 3 LinkedIn

Search Tips from Boolean Master Glen

Cathey

Sourcing How to increase workplace diversity with

employee referrals

Unconscious bias Managing Unconscious Bias Strategies to

Manage Bias amp Build More Diverse Inclusive

Organizations

Unconscious bias 50 Ways to Fight Bias

Unconscious bias 12 Unconscious Bias Examples and How to

Avoid Them in the Workplace

Unconscious bias Harvard Project Implicit Association Tests

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 34

Greenhouse is the hiring software company

We help businesses be great at hiring through

our powerful hiring approach complete suite of

software and services and large partner ecosystem ndash

so businesses can hire for whatrsquos next

To learn more visit

greenhouseio

Page 29: eBook Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company

Part 5 For everyone

Creating an inclusive candidate experience to build stronger more diverse teamsEvery person in your company ndash regardless of their job title ndash can

contribute to inclusive hiring Whether theyrsquore making referrals

interviewing candidates or talking to prospects their actions can

have an impact on candidate experience Thatrsquos why itrsquos essential

to be intentional about the role everyone plays

Here are a few ways to create an inclusive candidate experience

Structured hiring

Structured hiring is an approach where selection decisions are

based on evidence not emotion Leaders align the role to a business

objective and build a rigorous and objective interview process

through conversations assignments and the like that can be used to

predict job performance Candidates are asked consistent questions

that connect back to specific attributes required for the role and

interviewers evaluate responses against a defined rating system in

the interview scorecard

In previous sections we covered how hiring managers and recruiters

can partner to implement structured hiring Remember that rolling

it out to your entire company will take time and effort Everyone

involved in the interview process will need to be trained on things

like how to conduct interviews take notes and score candidates

Consider integrating this training into new hire onboarding team

offsites or manager professional development to ensure everyone

stays up to date

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 29

Defining and hiring for culture add

Over the past several years wersquove seen companies move away

from assessing candidates on their ldquoculture fitrdquo because this term

can lead to homogeneous hiring But many companies still want

a way to determine whether candidates are aligned with their values

This is where ldquoculture addrdquo or values interviews can come into play

Culture-add interviews also give candidates the chance to meet

people from other teams and departments to get a broader sense of

your company culture

If culture-add interviews are part of your hiring process (or you want

them to be) yoursquoll want to consider the following

bull Who conducts culture-add interviews What is the selection

process like for identifying these interviewers within your

company and training them

bull Which questions does the culture-add interview cover How do

you define great acceptable and unacceptable answers

bull How often will you revisit and update this process

Hiring Maturity success story Neil Casey ThoughtWorks

In this limited podcast

series Greenhouse

President and Co-

founder Jon Stross sat

down with talent leaders

from leading companies

to discuss their Hiring

Maturity journeys Listen

in as Jon invites Neil

Casey Global Head of

Sourcing and Strategic

Hiring at ThoughtWorks

to discuss building an

inclusive hiring process

at scale

Explore the Greenhouse DEampI feature set

Take structured interviewing to the next level with solutions that enable

recruiters interviewers and hiring managers to operationalize and

scale fairer hiring practices Herersquos a brief overview of the Greenhouse

DEampI feature set

Data collection and reporting ndash Track self-reported applicant

demographic data throughout the hiring funnel (from sourcing

to offer) and measure pass-throughdrop-off rates

In-the-moment interventions ndash Reminders that nudge users to

slow down and avoid instinctive mental shortcuts that arenrsquot

rooted in evidence or tied to job-relevant criteria

Structured decision-making ndash Added guardrails that support

a more objective selection process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 30

Encouraging an inclusive approach to employee referrals

Employee referrals are a great way to get everyone involved in the

hiring process Itrsquos exciting to have a hand in shaping the future of your

company while helping someone in your network land their next role

But certain groups tend to benefit from referrals more than others

which can lead to more homogeneity

The good news is that referrals donrsquot automatically lead to

homogeneous hires according to research by DEampI consultancy

Paradigm They partnered with Pinterest to determine why employee

referrals tend to be homogenous Is it because peoplersquos networks

are truly that homogenous or is it due to pattern-matching bias

(employees are looking around at their coworkers and only thinking

of people who are similar to the existing team) Paradigm found that

when a leader asked employees to be more mindful about diversity

when offering referrals especially people of color and women it made

a tangible impact over the following six weeks So be sure to encourage

employees to consider diversity when making referrals

DonorsChoose takes a data-driven approach to DEampI in their hiring

DonorsChoosersquos challenge Develop a hiring process that aligns with

the organizationrsquos commitment to DEampI in their work in education

DonorsChoose has a high standard for their DEampI hiring efforts and

wanted to intentionally drive a more diverse candidate pool To do so

they had to prioritize gathering better data on diversity in their hiring

pools Without that data conversations between the People and Talent

team and hiring managers felt uninformed and ineffective

DonorsChoose wanted data at their fingertips to drive their DEampI

hiring efforts The Greenhouse DEampI feature set offered them a robust

set of tools Since turning on custom demographic reporting the

DonorsChoose team has seen an improvement and recognized that

now 58 of the candidates who have made it to the face-to-face

interview stage at DonorsChoose have identified as people of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 31

ConclusionWe recommend sitting with these strategies for a few days rather than

immediately jumping into action Take time to reflect on your next

steps and collaborate with your internal partners in order to create the

optimal DEampI hiring strategy for your company

Remember that when it comes to DEampI therersquos no ldquoend staterdquo to arrive

at Wersquore all on the same journey of curiosity listening progress and

discovery

If yoursquod like to do further reading or research on any of the topics we

covered wersquove curated a list of recommended reading for you

We are your partners and allies and stand beside you in this work and

will help you as best we can All of us at Greenhouse are committed to

bringing about lasting change and we will be your partner in creating

a more equitable hiring process so you can build more inclusive

stronger teams

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 32

Recommended reading

DEampI strategy Creating an Effective Diversity and Inclusion

Program

DEampI strategy Hiring Diverse Candidates is Not Enough ndash

Itrsquos About Keeping Them

DEampI strategy Toward a Racially Just Workplace

DEampI strategy Why So Many Organizations Stay White

DEampI strategy Do Your DampI Efforts Include People with

Disabilities

Hiring If Therersquos Only One Woman in Your Candidate

Pool Therersquos Statisically No Chance Shersquoll Be

Hired

Hiring A Data-Driven Approach to Hiring More

Diverse Talent

Hiring How to Alter Your Hiring Practices to Increase

Diversity

Hiring Research How Speech Patterns Lead to

Hiring Bias

Intersectionality Do Your Diversity Efforts Reflect the

Experiences of Women of Color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 33

Recommended reading (continued)

Sourcing Could This Be The Secret To Hiring More

Women And People Of Color

Sourcing Diversity Sourcing Strategy 3 LinkedIn

Search Tips from Boolean Master Glen

Cathey

Sourcing How to increase workplace diversity with

employee referrals

Unconscious bias Managing Unconscious Bias Strategies to

Manage Bias amp Build More Diverse Inclusive

Organizations

Unconscious bias 50 Ways to Fight Bias

Unconscious bias 12 Unconscious Bias Examples and How to

Avoid Them in the Workplace

Unconscious bias Harvard Project Implicit Association Tests

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 34

Greenhouse is the hiring software company

We help businesses be great at hiring through

our powerful hiring approach complete suite of

software and services and large partner ecosystem ndash

so businesses can hire for whatrsquos next

To learn more visit

greenhouseio

Page 30: eBook Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company

Defining and hiring for culture add

Over the past several years wersquove seen companies move away

from assessing candidates on their ldquoculture fitrdquo because this term

can lead to homogeneous hiring But many companies still want

a way to determine whether candidates are aligned with their values

This is where ldquoculture addrdquo or values interviews can come into play

Culture-add interviews also give candidates the chance to meet

people from other teams and departments to get a broader sense of

your company culture

If culture-add interviews are part of your hiring process (or you want

them to be) yoursquoll want to consider the following

bull Who conducts culture-add interviews What is the selection

process like for identifying these interviewers within your

company and training them

bull Which questions does the culture-add interview cover How do

you define great acceptable and unacceptable answers

bull How often will you revisit and update this process

Hiring Maturity success story Neil Casey ThoughtWorks

In this limited podcast

series Greenhouse

President and Co-

founder Jon Stross sat

down with talent leaders

from leading companies

to discuss their Hiring

Maturity journeys Listen

in as Jon invites Neil

Casey Global Head of

Sourcing and Strategic

Hiring at ThoughtWorks

to discuss building an

inclusive hiring process

at scale

Explore the Greenhouse DEampI feature set

Take structured interviewing to the next level with solutions that enable

recruiters interviewers and hiring managers to operationalize and

scale fairer hiring practices Herersquos a brief overview of the Greenhouse

DEampI feature set

Data collection and reporting ndash Track self-reported applicant

demographic data throughout the hiring funnel (from sourcing

to offer) and measure pass-throughdrop-off rates

In-the-moment interventions ndash Reminders that nudge users to

slow down and avoid instinctive mental shortcuts that arenrsquot

rooted in evidence or tied to job-relevant criteria

Structured decision-making ndash Added guardrails that support

a more objective selection process

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 30

Encouraging an inclusive approach to employee referrals

Employee referrals are a great way to get everyone involved in the

hiring process Itrsquos exciting to have a hand in shaping the future of your

company while helping someone in your network land their next role

But certain groups tend to benefit from referrals more than others

which can lead to more homogeneity

The good news is that referrals donrsquot automatically lead to

homogeneous hires according to research by DEampI consultancy

Paradigm They partnered with Pinterest to determine why employee

referrals tend to be homogenous Is it because peoplersquos networks

are truly that homogenous or is it due to pattern-matching bias

(employees are looking around at their coworkers and only thinking

of people who are similar to the existing team) Paradigm found that

when a leader asked employees to be more mindful about diversity

when offering referrals especially people of color and women it made

a tangible impact over the following six weeks So be sure to encourage

employees to consider diversity when making referrals

DonorsChoose takes a data-driven approach to DEampI in their hiring

DonorsChoosersquos challenge Develop a hiring process that aligns with

the organizationrsquos commitment to DEampI in their work in education

DonorsChoose has a high standard for their DEampI hiring efforts and

wanted to intentionally drive a more diverse candidate pool To do so

they had to prioritize gathering better data on diversity in their hiring

pools Without that data conversations between the People and Talent

team and hiring managers felt uninformed and ineffective

DonorsChoose wanted data at their fingertips to drive their DEampI

hiring efforts The Greenhouse DEampI feature set offered them a robust

set of tools Since turning on custom demographic reporting the

DonorsChoose team has seen an improvement and recognized that

now 58 of the candidates who have made it to the face-to-face

interview stage at DonorsChoose have identified as people of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 31

ConclusionWe recommend sitting with these strategies for a few days rather than

immediately jumping into action Take time to reflect on your next

steps and collaborate with your internal partners in order to create the

optimal DEampI hiring strategy for your company

Remember that when it comes to DEampI therersquos no ldquoend staterdquo to arrive

at Wersquore all on the same journey of curiosity listening progress and

discovery

If yoursquod like to do further reading or research on any of the topics we

covered wersquove curated a list of recommended reading for you

We are your partners and allies and stand beside you in this work and

will help you as best we can All of us at Greenhouse are committed to

bringing about lasting change and we will be your partner in creating

a more equitable hiring process so you can build more inclusive

stronger teams

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 32

Recommended reading

DEampI strategy Creating an Effective Diversity and Inclusion

Program

DEampI strategy Hiring Diverse Candidates is Not Enough ndash

Itrsquos About Keeping Them

DEampI strategy Toward a Racially Just Workplace

DEampI strategy Why So Many Organizations Stay White

DEampI strategy Do Your DampI Efforts Include People with

Disabilities

Hiring If Therersquos Only One Woman in Your Candidate

Pool Therersquos Statisically No Chance Shersquoll Be

Hired

Hiring A Data-Driven Approach to Hiring More

Diverse Talent

Hiring How to Alter Your Hiring Practices to Increase

Diversity

Hiring Research How Speech Patterns Lead to

Hiring Bias

Intersectionality Do Your Diversity Efforts Reflect the

Experiences of Women of Color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 33

Recommended reading (continued)

Sourcing Could This Be The Secret To Hiring More

Women And People Of Color

Sourcing Diversity Sourcing Strategy 3 LinkedIn

Search Tips from Boolean Master Glen

Cathey

Sourcing How to increase workplace diversity with

employee referrals

Unconscious bias Managing Unconscious Bias Strategies to

Manage Bias amp Build More Diverse Inclusive

Organizations

Unconscious bias 50 Ways to Fight Bias

Unconscious bias 12 Unconscious Bias Examples and How to

Avoid Them in the Workplace

Unconscious bias Harvard Project Implicit Association Tests

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 34

Greenhouse is the hiring software company

We help businesses be great at hiring through

our powerful hiring approach complete suite of

software and services and large partner ecosystem ndash

so businesses can hire for whatrsquos next

To learn more visit

greenhouseio

Page 31: eBook Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company

Encouraging an inclusive approach to employee referrals

Employee referrals are a great way to get everyone involved in the

hiring process Itrsquos exciting to have a hand in shaping the future of your

company while helping someone in your network land their next role

But certain groups tend to benefit from referrals more than others

which can lead to more homogeneity

The good news is that referrals donrsquot automatically lead to

homogeneous hires according to research by DEampI consultancy

Paradigm They partnered with Pinterest to determine why employee

referrals tend to be homogenous Is it because peoplersquos networks

are truly that homogenous or is it due to pattern-matching bias

(employees are looking around at their coworkers and only thinking

of people who are similar to the existing team) Paradigm found that

when a leader asked employees to be more mindful about diversity

when offering referrals especially people of color and women it made

a tangible impact over the following six weeks So be sure to encourage

employees to consider diversity when making referrals

DonorsChoose takes a data-driven approach to DEampI in their hiring

DonorsChoosersquos challenge Develop a hiring process that aligns with

the organizationrsquos commitment to DEampI in their work in education

DonorsChoose has a high standard for their DEampI hiring efforts and

wanted to intentionally drive a more diverse candidate pool To do so

they had to prioritize gathering better data on diversity in their hiring

pools Without that data conversations between the People and Talent

team and hiring managers felt uninformed and ineffective

DonorsChoose wanted data at their fingertips to drive their DEampI

hiring efforts The Greenhouse DEampI feature set offered them a robust

set of tools Since turning on custom demographic reporting the

DonorsChoose team has seen an improvement and recognized that

now 58 of the candidates who have made it to the face-to-face

interview stage at DonorsChoose have identified as people of color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 31

ConclusionWe recommend sitting with these strategies for a few days rather than

immediately jumping into action Take time to reflect on your next

steps and collaborate with your internal partners in order to create the

optimal DEampI hiring strategy for your company

Remember that when it comes to DEampI therersquos no ldquoend staterdquo to arrive

at Wersquore all on the same journey of curiosity listening progress and

discovery

If yoursquod like to do further reading or research on any of the topics we

covered wersquove curated a list of recommended reading for you

We are your partners and allies and stand beside you in this work and

will help you as best we can All of us at Greenhouse are committed to

bringing about lasting change and we will be your partner in creating

a more equitable hiring process so you can build more inclusive

stronger teams

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 32

Recommended reading

DEampI strategy Creating an Effective Diversity and Inclusion

Program

DEampI strategy Hiring Diverse Candidates is Not Enough ndash

Itrsquos About Keeping Them

DEampI strategy Toward a Racially Just Workplace

DEampI strategy Why So Many Organizations Stay White

DEampI strategy Do Your DampI Efforts Include People with

Disabilities

Hiring If Therersquos Only One Woman in Your Candidate

Pool Therersquos Statisically No Chance Shersquoll Be

Hired

Hiring A Data-Driven Approach to Hiring More

Diverse Talent

Hiring How to Alter Your Hiring Practices to Increase

Diversity

Hiring Research How Speech Patterns Lead to

Hiring Bias

Intersectionality Do Your Diversity Efforts Reflect the

Experiences of Women of Color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 33

Recommended reading (continued)

Sourcing Could This Be The Secret To Hiring More

Women And People Of Color

Sourcing Diversity Sourcing Strategy 3 LinkedIn

Search Tips from Boolean Master Glen

Cathey

Sourcing How to increase workplace diversity with

employee referrals

Unconscious bias Managing Unconscious Bias Strategies to

Manage Bias amp Build More Diverse Inclusive

Organizations

Unconscious bias 50 Ways to Fight Bias

Unconscious bias 12 Unconscious Bias Examples and How to

Avoid Them in the Workplace

Unconscious bias Harvard Project Implicit Association Tests

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 34

Greenhouse is the hiring software company

We help businesses be great at hiring through

our powerful hiring approach complete suite of

software and services and large partner ecosystem ndash

so businesses can hire for whatrsquos next

To learn more visit

greenhouseio

Page 32: eBook Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company

ConclusionWe recommend sitting with these strategies for a few days rather than

immediately jumping into action Take time to reflect on your next

steps and collaborate with your internal partners in order to create the

optimal DEampI hiring strategy for your company

Remember that when it comes to DEampI therersquos no ldquoend staterdquo to arrive

at Wersquore all on the same journey of curiosity listening progress and

discovery

If yoursquod like to do further reading or research on any of the topics we

covered wersquove curated a list of recommended reading for you

We are your partners and allies and stand beside you in this work and

will help you as best we can All of us at Greenhouse are committed to

bringing about lasting change and we will be your partner in creating

a more equitable hiring process so you can build more inclusive

stronger teams

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 32

Recommended reading

DEampI strategy Creating an Effective Diversity and Inclusion

Program

DEampI strategy Hiring Diverse Candidates is Not Enough ndash

Itrsquos About Keeping Them

DEampI strategy Toward a Racially Just Workplace

DEampI strategy Why So Many Organizations Stay White

DEampI strategy Do Your DampI Efforts Include People with

Disabilities

Hiring If Therersquos Only One Woman in Your Candidate

Pool Therersquos Statisically No Chance Shersquoll Be

Hired

Hiring A Data-Driven Approach to Hiring More

Diverse Talent

Hiring How to Alter Your Hiring Practices to Increase

Diversity

Hiring Research How Speech Patterns Lead to

Hiring Bias

Intersectionality Do Your Diversity Efforts Reflect the

Experiences of Women of Color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 33

Recommended reading (continued)

Sourcing Could This Be The Secret To Hiring More

Women And People Of Color

Sourcing Diversity Sourcing Strategy 3 LinkedIn

Search Tips from Boolean Master Glen

Cathey

Sourcing How to increase workplace diversity with

employee referrals

Unconscious bias Managing Unconscious Bias Strategies to

Manage Bias amp Build More Diverse Inclusive

Organizations

Unconscious bias 50 Ways to Fight Bias

Unconscious bias 12 Unconscious Bias Examples and How to

Avoid Them in the Workplace

Unconscious bias Harvard Project Implicit Association Tests

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 34

Greenhouse is the hiring software company

We help businesses be great at hiring through

our powerful hiring approach complete suite of

software and services and large partner ecosystem ndash

so businesses can hire for whatrsquos next

To learn more visit

greenhouseio

Page 33: eBook Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company

Recommended reading

DEampI strategy Creating an Effective Diversity and Inclusion

Program

DEampI strategy Hiring Diverse Candidates is Not Enough ndash

Itrsquos About Keeping Them

DEampI strategy Toward a Racially Just Workplace

DEampI strategy Why So Many Organizations Stay White

DEampI strategy Do Your DampI Efforts Include People with

Disabilities

Hiring If Therersquos Only One Woman in Your Candidate

Pool Therersquos Statisically No Chance Shersquoll Be

Hired

Hiring A Data-Driven Approach to Hiring More

Diverse Talent

Hiring How to Alter Your Hiring Practices to Increase

Diversity

Hiring Research How Speech Patterns Lead to

Hiring Bias

Intersectionality Do Your Diversity Efforts Reflect the

Experiences of Women of Color

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 33

Recommended reading (continued)

Sourcing Could This Be The Secret To Hiring More

Women And People Of Color

Sourcing Diversity Sourcing Strategy 3 LinkedIn

Search Tips from Boolean Master Glen

Cathey

Sourcing How to increase workplace diversity with

employee referrals

Unconscious bias Managing Unconscious Bias Strategies to

Manage Bias amp Build More Diverse Inclusive

Organizations

Unconscious bias 50 Ways to Fight Bias

Unconscious bias 12 Unconscious Bias Examples and How to

Avoid Them in the Workplace

Unconscious bias Harvard Project Implicit Association Tests

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 34

Greenhouse is the hiring software company

We help businesses be great at hiring through

our powerful hiring approach complete suite of

software and services and large partner ecosystem ndash

so businesses can hire for whatrsquos next

To learn more visit

greenhouseio

Page 34: eBook Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company

Recommended reading (continued)

Sourcing Could This Be The Secret To Hiring More

Women And People Of Color

Sourcing Diversity Sourcing Strategy 3 LinkedIn

Search Tips from Boolean Master Glen

Cathey

Sourcing How to increase workplace diversity with

employee referrals

Unconscious bias Managing Unconscious Bias Strategies to

Manage Bias amp Build More Diverse Inclusive

Organizations

Unconscious bias 50 Ways to Fight Bias

Unconscious bias 12 Unconscious Bias Examples and How to

Avoid Them in the Workplace

Unconscious bias Harvard Project Implicit Association Tests

eBook | Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company 34

Greenhouse is the hiring software company

We help businesses be great at hiring through

our powerful hiring approach complete suite of

software and services and large partner ecosystem ndash

so businesses can hire for whatrsquos next

To learn more visit

greenhouseio

Page 35: eBook Inclusive hiring strategies for everyone at your company

Greenhouse is the hiring software company

We help businesses be great at hiring through

our powerful hiring approach complete suite of

software and services and large partner ecosystem ndash

so businesses can hire for whatrsquos next

To learn more visit

greenhouseio